JUDICIAL JOBS TO BE AUDITED

The lord chancellor's office has announced it is to appoint a commissioner for judicial appointments. The successful appointee will head a body that will conduct a continuing audit on appointment procedures for judges, tribunal chairs and senior lawyers. It will not, however, appoint the judges, which remains within the gift of the lord chancellor.

Figures recently published by the lord chancellor's department show that there has been a rise in the number of women judges appointed, with women comprising 27% of recent appointments through open competition. However, this still leaves women under-represented among the UK's judiciary.

The figures show that ethnic minority applicants were actually under-represented among successful appointments. They constituted just 4% of appointments despite the fact that they are already grossly under-represented among the judiciary.

The report tries to put this under-representation down to the fact that there are not enough senior lawyers from ethnic minority backgrounds available. However, it accepts that "more needs to be done to encourage ethnic minority and other applicants from under-represented groups".

The issue of diversity within the UK's judiciary has become even more important with the new powers given to the judges under the Human Rights Act 1998. They now have a greater role than ever before in setting the standards for civil liberties.