Commentary on Sections Schedule 13: Judicial appointments Part 2: Diversity
339.Part 2 provides for measures to promote consideration of diversity in the appointments process.
340.Paragraph 9 amends section 27 of the CRA to provide that a UK Supreme Court selection commission is not prevented from preferring one candidate over another for the purposes of increasing diversity in the UK Supreme Court where two candidates are of equal merit.
341.Paragraph 10(3) amends section 63 of the CRA. New section 63(4) of the CRA provides that neither the requirement to select candidates for judicial office solely on merit, nor Part 5 of the Equality Act 2010, prevents the selecting body from preferring one candidate over another, where two persons are judged to be of equal merit, for the purposes of increasing diversity within the judiciary.
342.Paragraph 11 introduces a new section 137A to the CRA. The new section places the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice under a duty to take such steps as they consider appropriate for the purposes of encouraging judicial diversity.
343.Paragraph 13 amends section 2 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 to allow the maximum number of ordinary judges of the Court of Appeal to be made up of a full-time equivalent (“FTE”) of 38 ordinary judges, rather than a maximum of 38 individual judges. It also includes reference as to how to calculate the FTE, namely by taking the number of full-time ordinary judges and adding, for each ordinary judge who is not full-time, such fraction as is reasonable.
344.Paragraph 14 amends section 4 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 to allow the maximum number of puisne judges of the High Court to be made up of a FTE of 108, rather than a maximum of 108 individual puisne judges. It also includes reference as to how to calculate the FTE, namely by taking the number of full-time puisne judges and adding, for each puisne judge who is not full-time, such fraction as is reasonable.