House of Lords written question – answered at on 1 February 2013.
Lord Beecham
Shadow Spokesperson (Communities and Local Government), Shadow Spokesperson (Justice)
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made a breakdown of the socio-economic profile of the lay magistracy; and, if so, how many lay magistrates fall into each group.
Lord McNally
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords
Applicants to the magistracy are asked to signify which occupational group they regard themselves as belonging to. A breakdown of that information for the 24,003 magistrates currently in service is shown below:
| Occupation Category | Total No. | % |
| Manager or Senior Official | 4,849 | 20.20 |
| Professional Occupation | 7.610 | 31.71 |
| Associate Professional or Technical Occupation | 2,502 | 10.42 |
| Administrative or Secretarial Occupation | 3,915 | 16.31 |
| Skilled Trades Occupation | 513 | 2.13 |
| Personal Service Occupation | 330 | 1.37 |
| Sales or Customer Service Occupation | 363 | 1.51 |
| Process, Plant or Machine Operative | 175 | 0.73 |
| Elementary Occupation | 154 | 0.64 |
| Never Been in Paid Employment | 39 | 0.16 |
| Not in Paid Employment | 1658 | 6.91 |
| Retired | 898 | 3.75 |
| Self-Employed | 953 | 3.98 |
| Unknown | 44 | 0.18 |
| Total | 24,003 | 100 |
Yes1 person thinks so
No2 people think not
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