PQ: 20th July 2018

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-07-12.163549.h

Capita

Ministry of Justice written question – answered on 20th July 2018.

Nicholas Dakin Opposition Whip (Commons)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) objectives and (b) milestones his Department set relating to the decision to tender all justice related interpretation services to Capita Translation and Interpreting between 2012 and 2016; and what assessment he has made of the (a) value for money for the public purse, (b) effect on the conduct of criminal trials and (c) extent to which those (i) objectives and (ii) milestones were met.

Rory Stewart The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

The sourcing strategy for language services, which resulted in the award of a contract to Applied Language Solutions in August 2011 (subsequently acquired by Capita Translation and Interpreting (CTI)) contained several high-level objectives, namely to:

• Improve the quality and consistency of service standards;
• Improve value for money; and
• Improve contract monitoring arrangements.

Milestones were set by the Ministry of Justice relating to relevant stages of the sourcing and procurement process, namely:

• Issue of Pre-Qualification Questionnaire;
• Supplier Conference;
• Invitation to Participate in Dialogue;
• Invitation to Submit Outline Solution;
• Invitation to Submit Detailed Solution;
• Invitation to Submit Final Tender;
• Selection of Preferred Bidders; and
• Contract Award.

These objectives and milestones were met, leading to contract award in August 2011.

It has previously been estimated that the contract enabled the Ministry to spend £48m less than it would otherwise have spent under legacy arrangements which were regarded as costly and inefficient.

CTI performance initially fell short of contractual requirements and measures were implemented to address root causes which delivered improvements and increased fulfilment rates. These are set out within the published Criminal Court Statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics ).

Ineffective trial rates attributed to interpreter availability have been consistently low over the contracted period. Published statistics for ineffective trial rates show that a lack of interpreter was the reason for 0.4% of trials being relisted in the magistrates' court in 2012 reducing to 0.3% in 2014, and 0.1% in the Crown Court throughout the course of the contract.

Robust contract monitoring and management arrangements were in place throughout the life of the CTI contract, including performance reporting and provision of comprehensive management information, monthly contract management meetings, and application of an improved performance management (key performance indicators and service credits) regime.