Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of services provided by interpreters to her Department.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice operates a robust performance and quality regime for these services. Interpreter fulfilment of bookings is the service provided by suppliers under contract, and their performance is managed through contract management. The quality regime includes ensuring that interpreters on the Ministry of Justice register are qualified and security vetted, a rolling programme of spot checks on interpreters to ensure that they are meeting the quality requirements, and a complaints process that will direct quality assessment checks to interpreters that are subject to a complaint.
The suppliers forecast demand, and work to ensure that there is a pool of qualified interpreters available to the Ministry of Justice to fulfil our bookings.
Mar. 17 2025
Source Page: Independent Technical Review of Qualifications and Experience Requirements for the Provision of Spoken Language InterpretingFound: For the Ministry of Justice, September 2022 OFFICIAL 15 predominant form of
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she is taking steps to improve the (a) quality and (b) performance of court language service providers: and whether she has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the future insourcing of those services.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring the justice system is supported by a suite of high-quality language services that meet the needs of all those that require them.
Ministry of Justice language service contracts, which began on 31 October 2016, are subject to robust governance arrangements.
These include monthly meetings with suppliers and stakeholders to review the quality of the services being provided and performance against contractual performance indicators. The contracts also provide for the Ministry of Justice to audit the suppliers to verify the accuracy of contractual payments, management information, and compliance with contractual obligations.
In 2016, the Ministry of Justice also awarded a contract to an independent quality assurance provider. They review the Ministry of Justice’s register of interpreters, conduct an annual audit of supplier processes for introducing new linguists, and conduct 'spot checks' of interpreters undertaking assignments.
The Ministry of Justice has regular conversations with stakeholders about the Department’s approach to language service provision. The decision to continue with outsourcing beyond the current contracts was given careful consideration, based on service requirements and value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders on insourcing court language interpretation services.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Regarding insourcing, the Ministry of Justice received and considered feedback from various interested parties, including external stakeholders and court users. It was determined that the service that will best suit the wide-ranging needs of users of language services continues to be a national, centralised booking and matching service. I would like to provide assurance the project considered the potential for bringing the service fully or partially in-house when assessing its options. However, these proved to be unaffordable.
The Ministry of Justice established an external stakeholder forum in 2021 with external organisations with an interest in the Department’s work, with the first meeting held on 8 June 2021. The forum comprises members from organisations representing interpreters and visual and tactile communication practitioners, as well as voluntary regulator organisations, including the National Register for Public Sector Interpreters (NRPSI). The purpose is to share information, facilitate communication and understand key issues or concerns of their members. The Department informed forum members in 2023 that it planned to continue with an outsourced model after an assessment indicated it is the best model for our needs.
With all Government contracts, we must consider what is the best value for taxpayers’ money, taking account of quality, deliverability and cost. On balance, we think outsourcing these services provides the best value for money. The decision has been made with input from a number of functional departments within the Ministry of Justice and approved by the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.
Correspondence Jan. 29 2025
Committee: Public Services CommitteeFound: interpreting services to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
Written Evidence Nov. 14 2024
Inquiry: Interpreting and translation services in the courtsFound: I have boycotted the Ministry of Justice Framework Agreement for interpreting services since its
Correspondence Dec. 04 2024
Committee: Public Services CommitteeFound: Shabana Mahmood KC MP Secretary of State for Justice Ministry of Justice 102 Petty France, Westminster
Written Evidence Nov. 06 2024
Inquiry: Interpreting and translation services in the courtsFound: Typically, the agency negotiates a fixed rate with interpreters for assignments of a stipulated
Written Evidence Dec. 18 2024
Inquiry: Interpreting and translation services in the courtsFound: I want to emphasise the challenges we have encountered due to the Ministry of Justice's outsourcing
Mar. 17 2025
Source Page: Independent Technical Review of Qualifications and Experience Requirements for the Provision of Spoken Language InterpretingFound: deployed on Ministry of Justice assignments.