Monday 27 March 2023

PQ: 27 March 2023

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2023-03-14.HL6484.h

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Ministry of Justice written question – answered on 27th March 2023.

Lord Swire Conservative

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.

Lord Bellamy The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice

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.

Wednesday 15 March 2023

PQ: 15 March 2023

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2023-03-01.HL6031.h

Asylum: Applications

Home Office written question – answered on 15th March 2023.

Baroness Coussins Crossbench

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require written asylum applications to be submitted in English.

Baroness Coussins Crossbench

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the letter to the Minister of State for Immigration from the Chartered Institute of Linguists and the Institute of Translation and Interpreting on 27 February about the use of online translation tools to assist written asylum applications.

Baroness Coussins Crossbench

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the use of online translation tools to assist written asylum applications on the level of appeals against asylum decisions.

Baroness Coussins Crossbench

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide public service interpreters to assist asylum seekers if they are required to submit a written asylum application in English.

Lord Murray of Blidworth The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

12,000 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria, Yemen, and Libya who lodged asylum claims before 28 June 2022 will be considered through a Streamlined Asylum Process. This will involve eligible claimants being sent a questionnaire asking them to provide all the necessary information so claims can be considered more quickly. This will speed up decisions for those in genuine need, ending the uncertainty over their future, and help us remove people with no right to be here.

It is standard practice for the Home Office to issue correspondence and questionnaires to asylum claimants in English. This is to avoid responses being received in other languages.

Asylum claims will continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis against published Immigration Rules, policy guidance and country information. These five nationalities had a grant rate of over 95% in the year-ending September 2022, therefore it is right to accelerate the processing of these claims where appropriate. An automatic grant of protection status for these countries is certainly not guaranteed – all individuals will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and an interview will follow the questionnaire if more information is needed.

All individuals will have already undergone a screening interview, including criminal checks and will have their biometrics, such as their fingerprints, taken before they can be considered for a grant of protection status.

If individuals do not reply to the questionnaire, and the Home Office is unable to trace them, their claim could be withdrawn.

We will respond to the correspondence from the Chartered Institute of Linguists and the Institute of Translation and Interpreting in due course.

"if you live in my country then learn to speak my language"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-64938001

15th March 2023

East of England Ambulance Trust accused of institutional racism

[…] Staff reported the racial bias within the trust also extended to the treatment of patients by some ambulance crew members.

One reported seeing a crew member open the blouse of a woman who did not speak English and did not speak to her via the interpreter.

Multiple members of staff said colleagues made assumptions they could speak other languages, based on their skin colour.

A manager was said to have asked a colleague: "Can you speak to them, as they speak 'gobildy gook'?"

"It is just assumed that if you are 'of colour', you all come from the same place and speak the same language", the staff member said.

One person asked a colleague to translate for someone speaking Arabic. "The reason given for the request was that 'I look like one of them'", they said.

Another said a call handler often muted calls from patients who did not speak English as a first language and said loudly "if you live in my country then learn to speak my language".

Many staff reported "banter" was often used to try and disguise or dismiss the problem. […]