Mr Lidington signed up to more detailed monitoring of the ethnicity and faith of offenders, and to the call for targets to ensure diversity among prison officers. In his defence, Mr Lidington points to programmes to encourage qualified applicants to come forward regardless of background. In the last three years, the proportion of BAME judges in the higher courts has crept up from 6% to 7%. No wonder Mr Lammy is demanding a much more determined push. Like Mr Lammy, she wants to encourage diversity among judges with the kind of supportive approach to recruitment of talent-spotting and mentoring that big firms use.

Source: The Guardian December 19, 2017 19:30 UTC