24
May 2012
MOJ
to monitor court interpreters after one in ten fail to turn up or get
translation wrong
The
company tasked with providing translators to courts and tribunals will be
monitored daily after failing to meet targets, the Ministry of Justice said
today.
Applied Language Solutions (ALS) was 8 per cent off target from January
to April this year after recently landing the contract.
ALS was set a 98 per cent success rate - measured on an interpreter
turning up to the job and completing it.
MoJ figures released today showed the firm had increased its success
rate from 65 per cent in February to 90 per cent in April.
An MoJ spokesman said: ''We continue to monitor performance on a daily
basis.
''However, the contract is now delivering an effective service and we
expect to see improvements in the coming months.''
The spokesman added: ''We have now seen a significant and sustained
improvement in performance.
''There are now only a tiny handful of cases each day when an
interpreter job is unfilled.
''Disruption to court business and complaints have reduced substantially
and close to 3,000 interpreters are now working under this contract.
''We continue to monitor the improvement on a daily basis.''
The MoJ said the definitions of whether interpreters completed or not
were decided by the company itself.
The deal with ALS has come under fire after repeated complaints about
interpreters failing to turn up, wasting taxpayers' money through court delays
and cancellations.
The company had claimed its contract, which started formally on February
1, would save the Government £60 million over five years.
But many interpreters said they had boycotted the firm in reaction to
low rates of pay, claiming that led to a struggle by ALS to recruit
translators, and prompting the use of untrained people in courts.
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