Setting targets for increasing the number of female judges would be the ‘wrong approach’ to boosting diversity, the minister responsible for legislation and law reform told the House of Lords last week.

Facing questions over gender and race diversity in the ­judiciary, Lord McNally said that selection should be based on merit.

However, he said that ‘appalling’ figures suggesting that only 20% of judges are female and just 8% are from ethnic minorities, were produced by ‘old selection ­prejudices’ that must be ­broken.

McNally called on the Bar Council and the Law Society to ‘show leadership’ in encouraging more women into the legal profession.

The judicial diversity taskforce, set up in response to recommendations made in February 2010 by the independent advisory panel on judicial diversity, is due to publish a progress report shortly.

McNally said: ‘I pay tribute to the quality of our judiciary, but I must say that, when the figures show that it is 80% male, we are wasting half our talent. Other professions have shown the ability to change. It is time for the legal profession to change as well.’

Baroness Kennedy said: ‘I remember that when I started at the bar there were sets of chambers that used to say, "We don’t take women". We then made a great advance where chambers would say, "Women? We’ve got one".

'We now have one woman in the Supreme Court. That has been the situation for seven years. It is not good enough.’

Meanwhile, the Law Society this week expressed its desire to work closely with Christopher Stephens, the newly appointed chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission, to increase the number of solicitor judges.

The Society and JAC are conducting a series of outreach events to support solicitors seeking to enter the judiciary.