Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the civil justice system for litigants in person.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to ensuring access to justice for all, whether people have legal representation or not. The Ministry of Justice is providing over £6 million of grant funding in 2025-26 to 60 organisations to improve access to free legal support and information, both in-person and online. This includes support for Litigants in Person (LiPs) to help them navigate the justice system effectively, including preparation for court and support at court.
Judges have a duty to ensure a fair trial by giving LiPs assistance, helping to ensure that LiPs are treated equally before the law. Guidance and rules sets out how the judiciary engage with LiPs, including the Equal Treatment Bench Book and Practice Direction 1A of the Civil Procedure Rules. LiPs can request supportive measures including reasonable adjustments, and interpreters at court. They can request to bring their own supporter such as a friend/family member. New digital services built under the Reform programme have been designed to be simple, accessible, and easy to use for LiPs.
The Government will continue to take steps to understand and improve LiPs’ experience of the civil justice system through Public User engagement Groups, research and feedback surveys.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of outsourcing interpreter and translation services for court proceedings; and what steps she has taken to ensure (i) quality, (ii) consistency and (iii) the protection of fair trial rights when third-party contractors provide such services.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has recently undertaken a re-procurement of its interpreter and translation service under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. These regulations mandate that public bodies aggregate expenditure on classes of goods and services and ensure that competition is applied through defined procurement procedures to ensure value for money. This principle underpinned the Ministry of Justice’s previous procurement of services and remains the case today.
The Ministry of Justice has regular conversations with stakeholders and incorporated their views into the options explored within a delivery model assessment which resulted in the consideration of insourcing, and hybrid options of insource and outsource. Stakeholders were informed in 2022/23 that the Department planned to continue with an outsourced model after assessments indicated that it was the best model for our needs. This option allowed for greater cost efficiency and enabled a larger share of funding to be directed towards paying interpreters.
It is vital that victims, witnesses and defendants understand what is happening in court to ensure justice is done. To support this, the Ministry of Justice operates a robust performance and quality regime for interpretation and translation services. These include monthly meetings with suppliers and stakeholders to monitor and discuss, in detail, the quality of the services being provided and performance against contractual performance indicators. The suppliers forecast demand, and work to ensure that there is a pool of qualified interpreters available to the Department to fulfil bookings and facilitate fair trials for those that require interpretation services. 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 addition, the Department has awarded a contract for the provision of independent quality assurance of the services provided under these other contracts. This assurance is undertaken in a number of ways, including:
Managing the Ministry’s register of interpreters
Conducting an annual audit of supplier processes for introducing new interpreters
Conducting a programme of 'spot checks' of interpreters undertaking assignments
Annual surveys of business users of the service
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Justice has spent in each year since 2020 under the RM6141 and RM6302 language services frameworks; and whether the department has used or maintained any separate or competing frameworks, contracts or commercial routes for the procurement of language services during the same period, and, if so, how much has been spent through them.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministry of Justice has not called off against Crown Commercial Service frameworks RM 6141 (Language Services) or its successor RM 6302 at any point since 2020; spend under both frameworks in every year is therefore £0. The timing of available frameworks did not align with the Department’s needs. Timelines have since been aligned for the following round of tendering.
Instead, the Department has continued to meet its interpretation and translation needs through its MoJ Language-Services Framework, first established in 2012 and re-let in 2016 following open competition. Courts also operate a non-contracted, or “off-contract” process, typically to cover requirements that arise at short notice and those that are more challenging to fulfil, such as the requirement for languages that are rare or scarce. The use of off-contract interpreters allows hearings to go ahead, to continue the delivery of justice. The next generation of contracts, currently being procured, include the use of a secondary supplier of interpreters, specifically to source those short notice bookings, and to bring this spend on-contract, with benefits such as improved data and value for money. Furthermore, we are the only organisation to also utilise an independent quality assurance supplier of these services.
The arrangement is open for other public-sector bodies to use, but is let independently of the CCS frameworks so that the Ministry of Justice can:
Expenditure recorded against the MoJ framework since 2020 is below:
Year | Contracted Expenditure | Off-Contract expenditure | Total Expenditure |
2020 | £20,217,548 | £1,193,788 | £21,411,336 |
2021 | £25,062,618 | £2,157,759 | £27,220,377 |
2022 | £26,883,747 | £4,856,616 | £31,740,363 |
2023 | £30,374,050 | £6,565,781 | £36,939,831 |
2024 | £31,625,158 | £7,037,731 | £38,662,889 |
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.