To ask the Attorney-General how many (a) women and (b) men were authorised to sit as assistant recorders in the last five years at (i) 12 years or under call, (ii) 13 years call, (iii) 14 years call, (iv) 15 years call, (v) 16 years call, (vi) 17 years call, (vii) 18 years call, (viii) 19 years call and (ix) 20 or more years call, respectively.
The information is not available in precisely the form requested. For those who are currently serving as assistant recorders (who include the majority of those authorised to sit in the last five years) the numbers for each length of call, or, in the case of solicitors, length of admission, are as follows:
| Women | Men | |
| 12 years or less | 1 | 2 |
| 13 years | 1 | 5 |
| 14 years | 1 | 16 |
| 15 years | — | 28 |
| 16 years | 3 | 42 |
| 17 years | 5 | 47 |
| 18 years | 4 | 50 |
| 19 years | 3 | 46 |
| 20 or more years | 9 | 157 |
To ask the Attorney-General what is the average length of call and average age on appointment of (a) women and (b) men currently serving as assistant recorders.
The information is as follows:
| Average of length of call1 (years) | Average age (years) | |
| Women | 19·0 | 43·2 |
| Men | 19·2 | 43·4 |
| 1 Or, for a solicitor, length of admission. | ||
To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of those called to sit as assistant recorders were women in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 respectively.
The information is not available in the form requested. However, invitations since 1986 to attend the Judicial Studies Board criminal induction courses, which must be completed before authorisation to sit as an assistant recorder, indicate that the proportions are as follows:
| Women Per cent. | Men Per cent. | |
| 1986 | 9 | 91 |
| 1987 | 5 | 95 |
| 1988 | 4 | 96 |
| 1989 | 7 | 93 |
| 1990 | 7 | 93 |
| 19911 | 15 | 85 |
| 1 To date. | ||