17 May 2012 by Catherine Baksi
ALS interpreters contract facing renewed scrutiny
The deal between the
Ministry of Justice and the private company contracted to provide court
interpreters is to face scrutiny from parliamentary watchdogs, as cases
continue to be disrupted by poor performance and non-attendance of
interpreters.
Public spending watchdog
the National Audit Office told the Gazette that it has received ‘a
number of representations’ about the Applied Language Solutions contract from
parties including members of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, and said it
is ‘considering the matter’.
Meanwhile the Commons
Justice Committee said it has received correspondence and is likely to ‘pursue
the matter’, either as a standalone project or as part of a wider examination
of the court service. In March, the committee questioned Peter Handcock, head
of the court services, on the contract and what could happen if performance
levels, which in its first week were quantified at just 40%, did not improve.
Committee chair Sir Alan
Beith told the Gazette that it is ‘subjecting to scrutiny the performance
of the contract’, taking up with Handcock criticisms of interpreters’
attendance and quality. ‘We’ve put questions in writing to [Handcock] to find
out records of the number of adjournments etc, what feedback they have had
about the contract, the qualifications required by the interpreters and the
fulfilment of the contract,’ said Beith.
Meanwhile, the resident
judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court, David Radford, alleged that the contractual
arrangements had been ‘introduced without the full board approval of Her
Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, including the judicial representatives’.
In an interview with the
London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, he said the change to one
contractor to provide interpreters, rather than courts individually booking
interpreters from a national register, had ‘badly affected’ his own court.
Radford said the MoJ did not ‘sufficiently have in mind the whole country’ when
the new arrangements were rolled out nationally after a pilot on the northern
circuit.
The contract, awarded to
Oldham-based ALS, began on 1 February. It is intended to cut the MoJ’s £60m
annual spend on interpreters by £18m. Weeks after the contract was awarded, ALS
was acquired by support services company Capita.
Many interpreters who had
provided their services directly to the courts under the old regime have
refused to work for ALS, citing concerns over fees and quality of service.
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