Public Accounts CommitteeWritten evidence from Capita
Requests for Further Evidence
Q305–307 in response to Tier 3 interpreter qualifications
The qualifications an interpreter at Tier 3 level holds as specified in the framework are:
The Workers’ Educational Association programmes.
Bi-Lingual Skills Certificates.
Community Interpreting.
In line with the framework agreement, an interpreter can also be awarded a Tier 3 based on experience only.
The Workers’ Education Association provides level 3 (equivalent to A-level) language based courses.
Bi-Lingual Skills Certificates are awarded by the Institute of Linguists and are a practical, vocational alternative to a traditional A-level. It is a stepping stone to the Diploma of Public Service Interpreting, also awarded by the Institute of Linguists.
Community Interpreting courses are offered by Colleges and also by the Workers’ Educational Association. The Community Interpreting programme is designed to develop competence in interpreting skills; it is not a language based programme. Colleges which offer Community Interpreting courses include the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London the Mary Ward Centre and South Thames College. Community Interpreting is awarded by Ascentis.
Questions 321–322 in response to the awarding organisation
Bi-lingual skills certificate is awarded by the Institute of Linguists.
Community Interpreting is awarded by Ascentis.
Question 325 in response to how many Tier 3 interpreters hold the qualifications listed
60% of interpreters hold a qualification which awards them a Tier 3 under the framework. Please note, a Tier 3 can also be awarded on experience only which is the case for the remaining 40%. Prior work-experience normally verified by means of a reference from a previous employer.
Question 467 in response to how many Tier 2 interpreters hold a degree
45% of Tier 2 interpreters hold a Degree.
35% of Tier 2 interpreters hold a Partial DPSI.
7% of Tier 2 interpreters hold a Metropolitan Police Test (Tier 1 accreditation when combined with a DPSI in Health or Local Government).
7% of Tier 2 interpreters hold the Immigration Asylum Appellate (used by the UK Borders agency as interchangeable with a NRPSI registration, a Metropolitan Police test or a Diploma in Public Sector Interpreting).
6% of Tier 2 interpreters hold the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (used by the UK Borders Agency and awarded by the Institute of Linguists Language Services Ltd).
We are in the process of agreeing some changes to the Tiering definition to ensure these encompass all the appropriate qualifications available. This includes obtaining approval for the IAA and IND qualifications which are currently used by the UK Borders agency. Whilst other language related diplomas where English features as part of the course are accepted for Tier 2, the Immigration Asylum Appellate and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate are not Degree level.
Question 484 and 487 in response to how many Tier 2 interpreters have documented evidence of prior experience
The interpreter recruitment processes were put in place by ALS management prior to the acquisition by Capita. Capita continued to adopt those processes initially because its main focus was on restoring service delivery as quickly as possible. It became apparent during the time of the NAO investigation that the processes did not have an adequate audit trail. As soon as this was identified, Capita initiated a verification exercise which focused on ensuring the appropriate audit trail was in place for qualifications and vetting. During this time Capita also obtained proof of hours for interpreters. To date Capita have received evidence of prior work experience for just over 40% of interpreters. However, at this time, and because of the work undertaken by interpreters for ALS to date, interpreters have now achieved the required verifiable work experience through ALS. Any new interpreters joining ALS will be asked to provide proof of their experience through the new robust process which has been put in place.
Question 488 in response to how many Tier 2 interpreters hold a diploma or degree and how many have documented evidence of prior experience
45% of Tier 2 interpreters hold a Degree.
35% of Tier 2 interpreters hold a Partial DPSI.
7% of Tier 2 interpreters hold a Metropolitan Police Test (Tier 1 accreditation when combined with a DPSI in Health or Local Government).
7% of Tier 2 interpreters hold the Immigration Asylum Appellate (used by the UK Borders agency as interchangeable with a NRPSI registration, a Metropolitan Police test or a Diploma in Public Sector Interpreting).
6% of Tier 2 interpreters hold the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (used by the UK Borders Agency and awarded by the Institute of Linguists Language Services Ltd, a subsidiary of the Institute of Linguists which is no longer operational).
We are in the process of agreeing some changes to the Tiering definition to ensure these encompass all the appropriate qualifications available. This includes obtaining approval for the IAA and IND qualifications which are currently used by the UK Borders agency. Whilst other language related diplomas where English features as part of the course are accepted for Tier 2, the Immigration Asylum Appellate and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate are not Degree level.
The interpreter recruitment processes were put in place by ALS management prior to the acquisition by Capita. Capita continued to adopt those processes initially because its main focus was on restoring service delivery as quickly as possible. It became apparent during the time of the NAO investigation that the processes did not have an adequate audit trail. As soon as this was identified, Capita initiated a verification exercise which focused on ensuring the appropriate audit trail was in place for qualifications and vetting. During this time Capita also obtained proof of hours for interpreters. To date Capita have received evidence of prior work experience for just over 40% of interpreters. However, at this time, and because of the work undertaken by interpreters for ALS to date, interpreters have now achieved the required verifiable work experience through ALS. Any new interpreters joining ALS will be asked to provide proof of their experience through the new robust process which has been put in place.
Supplementary Evidence
Question 336–340 in response to the in-work assessments
The assessment centres were a new initiative proposed by ALS, prior to the acquisition by Capita, for inclusion in the framework agreement. These assessment centres are not in-work assessments but they were assessments intended to assess the language capability of the interpreter over and above the qualifications which had already been obtained by the interpreter. In order to receive a Tier, the interpreter would still require the appropriate qualifications—assessment centres were therefore not a replacement of a qualification, it was an additional assessment. It was the intention of ALS to assess every interpreter in every language through the assessment centre process. Whilst the assessment itself did not cause any difficulties, the marking of the assessments was feasible only in a small number of languages.
The Ministry and Capita have had a number of discussions to prepare a realistic and beneficial assessment/induction programme, this proposal is close to being finalised and once it is, it can be implemented with immediate effect.
Question 341–343 in response to the confidence by the judiciary
The national roll-out of the framework contract took place on 30 January 2012 and significant issues were experienced by the Courts, Tribunals and Police Authorities immediately after this date.
The roll-out of the new service was affected by a combination of factors including; a low level of awareness and pre-engagement with stakeholders, a sustained resistance to the new service by interpreters and difficulties in an immediate scaling up of service delivery at ALS.
Immediately when the service delivery issues at ALS were identified, Capita took firm and responsive action to correct these as soon as possible. All responses and initiatives were made without commercial consideration as both the Ministry and Capita recognised both the importance of addressing the difficulties being experienced by users of the service and shared the view that, despite initial setbacks, the new arrangements could be made to work and thereby deliver the intended quality and commercial benefits when compared with previous arrangements.
As soon as problems first surfaced, Capita enabled and encouraged ALS to draw upon Capita’s wider resources, skills and track record to enhance and strengthen its service delivery. Capita has invested in excess of £5.4 million in contract infrastructure and resources to restore the service. In particular, Capita has:
Mobilised and deployed an experienced management team.
Significantly increased back-office resources (75 FTE).
Mobilised a team of experts to support the operation on process implementation, project management and management information.
Absorbed costs in relation to increased interpreter payments, bonuses and incentives.
Absorbed increased travel costs incurred by interpreters.
Invested in the IT system.
Rectified inadequate processes and procedures.
Performance has improved to 95% in August and whilst this is not yet in line with the contractual agreement of 98% it is a considerable improvement in comparison to when the service first when live. Complaints have dropped significantly. Complaints from criminal courts have dropped from 9.9% in February to 1.4% in August, for Civil and Family Courts the complaints have dropped from 5.8% to 0.6%. Tribunal complaints have also dropped from 17.1% to 5.2%.
Question 358–360 in response to the NRPSI (National Register of Public Service Interpreters)
The National Register of Public Service Interpreters is not a qualification. It is a register of interpreters and it has its own criteria which interpreters need to meet to be on the register. The National Register of Public Service Interpreters does not award any qualifications and it is not a qualification.
Question 366–370 in response to availability of demand information
Whilst Capita cannot comment on information provided to ALS prior to the acquisition, it is our understanding that demand information was provided by the Tribunals only, not by the Courts. Whilst ALS and MoJ attempted to extrapolate the information, the volume and language demand for Courts and Tribunals is very different. As a result, it was difficult to estimate the number of interpreters required by the Ministry and ALS; a record had never been kept by the Courts. In addition, no information was provided by Courts in terms of their demand pattern (less than 24 hours notice or more than 24 hours notice). We now have very detailed management information by language and geographic region.
Question 384 in response to contact with interpreters
The ALS CEO at the time had engaged with interpreter organisations including the National Register of Public Service interpreters and the Association of Police and Court Interpreters. We understand from the previous CEO the Association of Police and Court Interpreters was supportive of the Ministry of Justice’s Framework Agreement at the time the discussions were held.
Question 386–391 in response to what we have done to build confidence with interpreters
Capita took a number of actions at the beginning of the year to build confidence with interpreters these include:
Providing training opportunities—ALS have set up criminal justice workshops to support the interpreter in their work and to appraise them of new processes and procedures.
Improving incentives and payment terms for example the introduction of a self-serve payment and introduce a friend incentive.
Improving to the on-line IT systems to make these more user friendly for interpreters.
Developed and introduced a mobile “app” to allow interpreters to review assignments when they are “on the road”.
Recognition of the desire for interpreters to be paid more regularly—ALS pay interpreters weekly.
In response to concerns around payments for assessment centres—these were refunded.
In response to concerns around availability of staff to discuss problems by strengthening the Linguist Relations Team by 16 people.
Question 392–399 in response to payment terms
Interpreters get paid a minimum of 1 hour at the following rates:
Tier 1 £22.
Tier 2 £20.
Tier 3 £16.
Interpreters will receive their hourly rate from the time they are booked to start. For example, if an interpreter is booked for 10am but the hearing is delayed and does not start until 12pm, the interpreter will receive their hourly rate from 10am to 12pm in addition to the hourly rate for the work carried out when the hearing starts.
Interpreters also receive payments for mileage or travel time. A mileage payment is paid after the first 10 miles of each leg of a journey. An travel time payment is made after the first hour of travel time of each leg of a journey.
Interpreters receive a payment if they accept bookings on-line through the self-service system.
Interpreters, where possible, are offered multiple assignments and interpreters regularly carry out multiple assignments on the same day.
Question 407 in response to interpreters withholding labour
We did not anticipate at the time the numbers of interpreters who would withhold their labour. However, we also did not anticipate the intimidation, verbal and in some cases physical abuse, interpreters who worked for ALS had to experience. The instances reported to ALS were shocking and ALS advised interpreters to contact the Police in these instances. The Ministry and ALS also worked closely together to ensure ALS interpreters were not intimidated and did not suffer any abuse verbal or otherwise. The Ministry made available to interpreters the option to speak with Court security when instances occurred. Thankfully this level of intimidation has reduced, however, we still receive occasional instances from interpreters who experience intimidation.
It would be inappropriate to provide you with full detail of the individuals involved in this memorandum, therefore I am sharing with you a few anonymous instances. I have full detail of the individuals involved.
“[ALS interpreter] turned up for an assignment and was faced by [name of NPRSI interpreter] who used threatening language and followed [ALS interpreter] all day from room to room humiliating the interpreter. [The ALS interpreter] informed the Judge and the Judge asked for the [NRPSI interpreter] to be removed.”
“I’m a Registered NRPSI interpreter and I have registered with ALS.
I am concerned as I have just received a text message from one of NRSPI interpreters [name of interpreter] telling me that I sold myself cheeply to work for ALS.”
“I believe she found my telephone number on the National Register list of interpreters. Yesterday evening someone left a large broken mirror in front of my house at the entrance door covered with red paint and words ‘bloody Mary’.”
“I thought I would let you know as I am now aware of threatening campaign against interpreters working for ALS.”
“Photograph of an alleged assault on an interpreter.”
Text message: “U still help als! U shd look up the def of monopoly. ‘...pay reduced as soon as competition is eliminated...’. U’re only helping als destroy us. We hv mortgages 2, sm small kids. Thnk about it, we sacrifice ourslvs, n 4 nothing. Thanks t yr kind. At least for a couple of weeks tk a break, dnt stab yr own in the back, 2 ugly t betray us, pt 30 de arginti... Shame!”.
Text message: “4 as long as u help als destroy us, i cnt talk t u, makes me sick. May yr kind b cursed.”
Andy Parker
Joint Chief Operating Officer
6 November 2012