Double figures for Judicial Appointments Commission

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) has celebrated its first decade.

Since JAC launched in 2006 the time taken to run a selection exercise has halved to an average of 20 weeks.

The proportion of court judges who identify as black, Asian and minority ethnic has more than doubled since 2005, and the proportion of women in the courts judiciary has risen from 17% in 2005 to 25% in 2015.

JAC Chairman Christopher Stephens says: “In 10 years the JAC has established an independent, transparent and modern process to ensure recommendations are open, fair, and made solely on merit.

“We have worked hard to ensure we have the right selection tools to maintain the high calibre of appointments, to encourage a more diverse range of candidates and to speed up the appointments process. The judiciary has become more diverse over the past 10 years.”