Justice Committee - Sixth Report
Interpreting and translation services and the Applied Language Solutions contract

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Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 22 January 2013.

Contents

Terms of Reference

Summary

1 Introduction

Background to the Committee's inquiry

Interference with witnesses

The NAO report and the Public Accounts Committee inquiry

The Public Accounts Committee's recommendations

2 Changing arrangements for the provision of interpreter services

The previous arrangements

Problems with the previous arrangements

3 The new arrangements

The procurement process

MoJ consultation with stakeholders

Concerns about the procurement process

The use of the competitive dialogue process

Consultation with the interpreter community

Due diligence

The resulting new arrangements

4 Early operational problems and their impact

Early operational problems

Case studies

Underperformance against key indicators

Assessing the quality of provision

The impact on court and tribunal proceedings

The right to a fair trial

5 Explanatory factors for poor performance

Ordinary 'teething problems'?

Poor preparation for implementation

Rushed implementation across the court and tribunal system

Difficulties in scaling up delivery

Limited management information to aid planning

Contractual compliance

The interpreter boycott

The tier-based system

The impact of the tiered system

Specialist skills and rare languages

An untested system

The assessment system

Standardised pay and conditions

The online portal

6 Steps taken to rectify under-performance

Initial steps taken to rectify under-performance

Restricting the volume of work

Enhanced oversight by the Ministry of Justice

Investment by Capita

The extent to which remedial action has been effective

Improved fulfilment rates

Variation in performance

Recruitment of interpreters to the supplier list

Local availability

Reduced levels of complaints

An improved complaints process

Migrating work back to ALS

Inaction in imposing penalties

The cost of remedial action and implications for cost savings

7 Future priorities

Further recruitment of interpreters

The absence of assessments

Developing career progression

Completing monitoring checks

Enduring concerns about quality standards

Regaining the confidence of the judiciary, magistracy and legal professionals

Regaining the confidence of professional interpreters

The European Directive

Annex: e-consultation

Conclusions and recommendations

Formal Minutes

Witnesses

List of printed written evidence

List of additional written evidence

List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament

Oral and Written Evidence

23 October 2012

30 October 2012

Written Evidence

Additional Written Evidence

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Prepared 6 February 2013