Monday 25 March 2013

PQs - 25 March 2013


25 March 2013
Courts: Translation Services
Justice

Stephen McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department as a result of the implementation of the ALS/Capita contract for court translation and interpreting services.

Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald, Conservative)
The estimate of savings under the language services call-off contract with Capita is based on the pre-contract spend of approximately £30 million each year. This covers courts, tribunals and the National Offender Management Service.
The savings in the first year of the contract's operation are estimated at £15 million.




25 March 2013
Courts: Translation Services
Justice

Stephen McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will review (a) how many people have been wrongly convicted and (b) the number of potentially guilty people acquitted as a result of errors by translators employed under the ALS/Capita contract; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald, Conservative)
We have no plan at present to undertake any review of convictions or acquittals in interpreter court cases.
The judiciary is responsible for ensuring that defendants get a fair hearing. If there are any issues with interpretation the judge will stop the proceedings and resolve those issues. The Ministry of Justice monitors performance under the contract, which has an associated complaints system. Only a very small proportion of complaints relate to the quality of the interpreter. We have received no complaints that wrong convictions have been made as a result of problems with interpreters.

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