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10 Jun 2008 : Column 226W—continued
—continued| 2007 | |||||||
| Male | Female | Of ethnic minority origin | |||||
| Post | Total | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage |
Departmental Manpower
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of his Department's employees are (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208397]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice was created on 9 May 2007, bringing together the Department for Constitutional Affairs, Her Majesty's Courts Service and Associated Offices, the National Offender Management Service, the Prison and Probation Services, and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The latest available figures of directly employed civil servants are available as at 31 March 2008 and are detailed in the following table for (a) males, (b) females, (c) from an ethnic minority and (d) disabled. For (e) no heterosexual information is currently collated by any of the MOJ Agencies but there are plans to begin collating this from 2009.
| SIP Headcount as at 31 March 2008 | |||||
| Gender | |||||
| SIP Headcount | Male | Female | Ethnicity | Disability | |
| (1) Calculated in line with Cabinet Office Guidance and Best Practise on Diversity of declared responses only | |||||
Departmental Pay
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of employees in his Department who received a performance-related bonus at their last appraisal were (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208375]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice was created on 9 May 2007, bringing together the former Department for Constitutional Affairs, Her Majesty's Courts Service and associated offices, the National Offender Management Service, the Prison and Probation Services, and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The current terms and conditions of employees within the Ministry of Justice agencies have not been harmonised and the former Department for Constitutional Affairs including Her Majesty's Courts Service and associated offices, and those within the Prison and Probation Services and National Offender Management Service and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The latest available figures, provided from both the former Department for Constitutional Affairs and associated offices and from the public sector Prison Service, are for those employees in post on the 1( )April 2007 who received a performance related bonus for their last appraisal reporting period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 and are detailed in the following table for (a) males, (b) females, (c) from an ethnic background and (d) disabled. For (e) not heterosexual information is not currently collated by any of the MoJ agencies but there are plans to begin collating this from 2009.
Former Department for Constitutional Affairs and associated o ffices
The former Department of Constitutional Affairs is committed to a pay system that recognises good performance by its employees and information on the number of staff receiving a performance related bonus as part of their appraisal is provided in the following table. Performance is assessed under the common performance management system. For employees whose performance is rated as exceeded a small bonus is paid along with the annual pay increase. The information related to performance related pay and does not include information of bonuses given through the Reward and Recognition Scheme that operates alongside the performance related pay scheme.
Information on the number of public sector Prison Service staff receiving a performance related bonus as part of their regular staff appraisal is provided in the table. The information relates only to bonuses awarded as part of the normal appraisal system and does not include bonuses awarded through the Service's Special Bonus Scheme. Prison officer grades, operational support grades and health care staff do not receive performance-related bonuses and have therefore been excluded from the figures.
National Offender Management Service, and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform
The National Offender Management Service, and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform are providing
information as part of the Home Office response as at the same dates. The information that they have made
available cannot be broken down into just their areas and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
| SIP headcount of those within the performance management system as at 1 April 2007 and performance exceeded box marks, 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 | ||||||
| Gender | ||||||
| SIP headcount | Performance exceeded box marks | (a) Male | (b) Female | (c) Ethnicity | (d) Disability | |
| (1 )Calculated in line with Cabinet Office Guidance and Best Practise on Diversity of declared responses only. | ||||||
Judges
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of senior judges were previously (a) Masters and district judges and (b) Queen's Counsel. [209122]
Mr. Straw: ‘Senior Judges’ are defined in s.109(5) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 as the Heads of Division, the Lords Justices of Appeal and the puisne judges of the High Court. None of the current holders of these offices was previously a Master or a District Judge. Of the 152 current holders of these offices, all except seven (5 per cent.) were previously Queen's Counsel.
Judges: Conditions of Employment
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which stakeholders were consulted in the decision to exclude Masters and district judges from applying for certain senior appointments, including as designated civil judges. [209120]
Mr. Straw: No decision has been taken to exclude Masters and district judges from applying for certain senior appointments, that is High Court and above, or as designated civil judges.
However, in some senior circuit judge competitions in the past five years, but not those for designated civil judges, there were additional non-statutory eligibility criteria imposed to ensure business needs would be met by successful candidates. Some of these indicated an expectation that candidates would have had judicial experience of a level higher than that of Masters and district judges.
Judges: Public Appointments
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what factors are considered in the selection process of candidates for senior judicial appointments. [209121]
Mr. Straw: The JAC applies generic qualities and abilities to define merit: intellectual capacity, personal qualities; an ability to understand and deal fairly, authority and communication skills, efficiency.
For the most senior appointments (Lord Chief Justice and Heads of Division, and Lords Justices of Appeal), the Constitutional Reform Act (CRA) 2005 prescribes that it is for selection panels established under the Act to determine the selection procedure (CRA 2005—Ss 70, 71 and 79, 80).
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what qualifications are required of a person to be on the selection panel for senior judicial appointments. [209123]
Mr. Straw: The composition of selection panels for appointments of the Lord Chief Justice, Heads of Division, and Lords Justices of Appeal is prescribed by the Constitutional Reform Act (CRA) 2005 (Ss 71 and 80).
For all other judicial offices at the High Court and below, it is for the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to determine the selection process to be applied, including the composition of the panel (s88(1) CRA). For the two High Court appointment selection exercises, the JAC has decided that the sift and interview panels should consist of JAC Commissioners, augmented by judicial members where appropriate.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of the members of the selection panels for senior judicial positions have come from an ethnic minority in (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last 10 years. [209124]
Mr. Straw: For the two High Court selection exercises run by Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) the panels comprised:
2007-33.33 per cent. BME.
2008-25 per cent. BME.
Information relating to the years before the launch of the JAC, in April 2006, cannot be accessed in the time available. I will write to the hon. Member once the information has been collated and place copies in the Libraries of each House.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of senior judicial positions were subject to open competition in (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last 10 years. [209129]
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