22 January 2014
Court
interpreting firm Capita fined thousands
A
private company which provides court interpreters in England and Wales has lost
thousands of pounds in penalties for its poor performance.
Capita
had £46,319 of payments withheld by the Ministry of Justice between May 2012
and November 2013, according to a report by a public spending watchdog.
Judges
filed orders of £7,229 to cover the cost of translators failing to turn up, the
National Audit Office added.
Capita
says its performance has improved significantly since last May.
Capita
took over Applied Language Solutions (ALS), which had been awarded
responsibility for the interpreter service, at the start of 2012. Staff shortages
at that time meant that courtroom trials were disrupted.
'Disgrace'
The
National Audit Office's report said progress had been made since the end of
2012, when MPs accused Capita of causing "total chaos".
However,
it warned that the company was still not meeting its target of fulfilling 98%
of requests for interpreters.
The report said performance dipped at the
start of 2013 because Capita reduced mileage rates paid to interpreters,
resulting in a shortfall.
But after the Ministry of Justice and
Capita agreed to an improved package for interpreters, more bookings were
fulfilled.
In the last four months between 94% and 95%
of bookings were honoured, according to the report.
The work of interpreting in courts was
outsourced by the Ministry of Justice to private firm ALS in 2011, in a bid to
cut costs. ALS was sold to Capita before the contract began.
Labour's Margaret Hodge, who chairs the
Public Accounts Committee, said she was "unimpressed" that Capita was
still not meeting its targets.
"This is a vital service for ensuring
that people who do not speak English as a first language have fair access to
justice," she added.
Conservative justice minister Shailesh Vara
said that there had been "dramatic improvements over the life of the
contract so far" and it had saved taxpayers £15m in its first year.
Record numbers of bookings were now being
made and fulfilled, and complaint levels were very low, Mr Vara said.
But shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter
said: "It's a disgrace that ministers have still failed to get a grip
after two years."
Capita said in a statement: "After
reviewing the overall service with the MoJ and improving the terms and
conditions for interpreters in May, we have seen a significant increase in
fulfilment rates.
"They are now tracking to the target
level of service required."
No comments:
Post a Comment