asked the Attorney-General if it is the policy of the Lord Chancellor to encourage Metropolitan stipendiary magistrates to apply for appointment as circuit judges if formally qualified for the purpose.

All applications for appointment to the circuit Bench from suitably qualified persons are equally welcome whether or not they are serving as stipendiary magistrates.

asked the Attorney-General how many circuit judges were appointed in each of the last five years, respectively; and how many were formerly stipendiary magistrates in each case.

The figures are:

Year	Number of Circuit judges appointed	Of whom the following were stipendiary magistrates on appointment
1975	18	1
1976	23	1
1977	20	—
1978	30	1
1979	17	—

During the calendar year 1980 26 circuit judges have been appointed to date and four new appointments have been announced. Two of those four are at present stipendiary magistrates.