Cordella Bart-Stewart: ‘Advocates assume my clerk is the judge'
The 67-year-old has been a part-time immigration and asylum tribunal judge for 25 years and is troubled by the 'woeful under-representation' of black judges in England and Wales.
While the number of female judges and those from other ethnic minorities has risen in recent years, the figure for black judges has remained at a 'resolutely stubborn' 1 per cent — compared with 4.4 per cent of the working-age population.
She is among seven black female judges on the steering committee of the UK Association of Black Judges, which launched at the Supreme Court this month to support existing black judges and lawyers looking to join the bench.
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The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
What are the key recommendations in the landmark water sector review?
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Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour wealth tax war rages amid claims Reeves will reject calls for charge on assets - but could hit pensions reliefs instead
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BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Water industry review: Will these proposals make any difference?
A review of the water industry has proposed the biggest reform of the sector in England and Wales since privatisation more than 30 years review's author, Sir Jon Cunliffe, has made 88 recommendations, which range from scrapping the current regulator Ofwat to stronger introducing stronger environmental reforms are deep and wide, and come at a time when there has been widespread criticism of the industry over leaking pipes and sewage these proposals are adopted in full it would be hard to see how things could not get better than where the sector is now - underinvested and widely derided. Excessive debt and inappropriate dividends that threaten some water companies' resilience – such as Thames Water – would be addressed by minimum capital levels and powers to block ownership changes if not in the company's long-term already know that water companies will invest more than £100bn in upgrading systems over the next five years - and that bills will rise sharply to pay for Jon says there are some "inescapable facts", including climate change, higher environmental standards, a growing population, and replacing ageing problems plaguing the industry come from not investing for a long period, meaning there needs to be a "massive" investment, in order to catch up, he amount companies can invest is a function of what they are allowed to charge and for the last 20 years, bills have risen by less than inflation - so have been getting cheaper in real is widely accepted that Ofwat prioritised keeping bills low over new investment. If consumers want a better water system, someone has to pay for what the Environment Secretary Steve Reed wants - and Cunliffe suggests - is a way of making sure bills do not have to spike so dramatically in future to catch up for years of underinvestment - as we are seeing is paying the price for that by being the report there are continual references to the telecoms regulator Ofcom - which is seen to have done a better job by maintaining a focus on continual investment in better infrastructure over while you can change the regulator, the reality is that higher future bills are the price for fixing the underinvestment of the a lot to digest in this - including compulsory metering and public health officials on water planning bodies. It will take time to take effect. But at least the government will be able to point to the Cunliffe review and insist it has set the wheels of change in motion.
