Independent Review of MoJ Interpreting Services Contract

An independent review is being carried out of the MoJ’s dire interpreting contract with Capita. Hopefully this spells this end of the contract which has supposedly saved millions. If there was ever a full cost benefit analysis, it would show it has wasted much more than the purported savings.
The survey invite has been sent to ASLI, NRCPD, NUPIT and NRPSI as the high-profile organisations who represent interpreters in the UK. It is not clear from the invite if the Association of Lipspeakers or any Deaf professionals working in the justice system have been invited to comment (see letter below for contact details). Anecdotally many Deaf people have told of the decrease of interpreter provision and quality although many experienced court interpreters are still working when they can get the terms and conditions they are used to.
Please do fill out the survey if you have worked in court or experienced the MoJ’s interpreting contract on the ground. We look forward to the results and whether this will change anything.
 
Dear Madam/Sir,
Matrix, an independent consultancy, has been tasked by the Ministry of Justice to carry out an ‘Independent Review of Quality Assessment within MoJ Language Services Framework’.
This project is a review of the quality of interpretation and translation services provided in the justice sector under the MoJ Language Services Framework. To this end, Matrix seeks to gather evidence of and stakeholder input on the current state of play regarding the quality of interpretation and translation in the justice system, the relevant quality / experience requirements for interpreters / translators and current procedures for monitoring, evaluating and maintaining the quality of interpretation and translation. In this context, we are targeting all interpreters working in the UK justice system.
We would therefore highly appreciate it if you could fill in an online questionnaire, indicating your perceptions and views, by accessing the following link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XGZRCGK
Filling in the questionnaire should not take longer than 15 minutes. The survey will be open until Friday, 11th April 2014. All results will be anonymised for the final report.
Thank you very much in advance for your input and time.
In case you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us on Mirja.Gutheil@matrixknowledge.com.
Aurélie Heetman
Consultant
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Government Committee to quiz MoJ about Interpreting Contract

The Public Accounts Committee, a group of MPs who scrutinise spending of government funds by government departments, will again question MoJ representatives about the
contract for interpreting services.
The contract now owned by outsourcing giant, Capita, has not improved despite reports to the contrary and large investments by the company. Failings of the contract appear in the news nearly every day.
You can see the PAC meeting live this afternoon at 2.15pm where the CEO of Capita will be questioned.
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=14238
You can read previous comment and analysis of the contract, previous Public Accounts Committee meetings and National Audit Office reports here.