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.
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: 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.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of replacing external (a) translation and (b) interpretation services provided to her Department with services provided by departmental staff.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice considered the potential for bringing the service fully or partially in-house when assessing its options. The outcome of the assessment indicated an outsourced model continued to be the best value for taxpayers’ money, taking account of quality, deliverability, and cost.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar on 12 January 2022 (HL Deb cols 1151–2), when the Ministry of Justice's independent review of the qualifications and experience required of spoken word interpreters in HM Courts and Tribunal Service will be completed, and when it will be published.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We have been considering the findings of the independent review to help inform the development of new tender specifications. This is a complex process and covers a wide range of agencies within the Ministry of Justice. We will, of course, publish the outcome of the review once the tendering process is complete.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost to the public purse was for the Ministry of Justice Language Service Contract in (a) 2018 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer
The total cost to the public purse for the Ministry of Justice Language Service Contract was £26,774,286.01 in 2018, and £24,992,225.55 in 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the independent review of qualifications and experience required of spoken language interpreters in HM Courts and Tribunals Service will be completed; and when it will be published.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The review of qualifications and experience has been completed by an independent expert. We are considering its findings as part of a wider review of service requirements currently being undertaken within the Ministry of Justice, which is helping inform the development of new tender specifications. This is a complex process and covers a wide range of agencies within MoJ. Because this is linked with the ongoing language services procurement and invitation to tender work it is unlikely anything will be published before 2024. We will, of course, publish the outcome of the review once it is complete.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the supply chain of spoken word interpreters for HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Ministry of Justice and HMCTS engage regularly with commissioning bodies, educational institutions, and external stakeholder working groups, including language professional membership organisations, regarding the routes available to those wanting to become interpreters working within the justice system. We are also engaging with the market in advance of the upcoming tender for interpreter services.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021, which of his Department’s commitments in that strategy that have not been paused as a result of legal action have (a) been fully, (b) been partially and (c) not been implemented.
Answered by Mike Freer
In January 2022, the High Court declared the National Disability Strategy (NDS) was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.
The Ministry of Justice had five policies included in the National Disability Strategy. These include to:
○ attract more disabled people to the magistracy;
○ set out enhanced rights for disabled victims;
○ progress legislation in 2021 as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to amend common law so that deaf people who need a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter can do jury service
○ develop a neurodiversity training toolkit for frontline staff;
○ improve provision for disabled users, including through the accessibility of the estate and use of digital support.
Fully Implemented Policies
We remain fully committed to supporting disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society. To support this, the Ministry of Justice will be providing further details of our recent achievements to improve disabled people’s lives in the forthcoming Disability Action Plan consultation due for publication in the summer.
Ahead of this, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work will write providing a list of these achievements and will place a copy in the House Library.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost to the public purse for providing translators for foreign national prisoners in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
It is not possible to provide the information in the form requested. The costs of translators and interpreters cannot be disaggregated based on the nationality of the individuals that require these services. In addition, the level of aggregation at which cost data are collected combines all areas of the Ministry of Justice, including prisons, probation and the courts. It is not possible, therefore to obtain the costs associated with providing translation services solely for foreign national offenders.