25 January 2016 by Monidipa Fouzder
Capita still falls short on court interpreting
Nearly four years after the outsourcing of courtroom
interpreting to a single contractor, the service continues to fall short of its
key performance target, according to the latest government figures.
Between July and September 2015, Capita Translation
and Interpreting completed 97% of requests for language services, up from 96%
in the previous quarter, but still short of the 98% requirement stated in the
contract.
The Ministry of Justice said this was the highest
success rate since the contract started on 30 January 2012.
Complaints about the service fell from 580 between
April and June last year, to 430 between July and September. The report states
that this represented a 1% complaint rate, the lowest since the contract
commenced.
The most common cause of complaint was that the ‘interpreter
was late’, accounting for 30% of all complaints, an increase of one percentage
point from the previous quarter.
‘No interpreter available’ accounted for 21% of
complaints, compared with 31% in the previous quarter.
The majority of complaints came from tribunals, which
accounted for 61% of all complaints made in the third quarter. The availability
of an interpreter accounted for 1% of the total number of ineffective trials in
the Crown and magistrates’ courts.
A spokesperson for Capita TI said: ’The current
published success rate (ie completed jobs) stands at 97% for the period July to
September 2015, demonstrating that our standards for success rates are high and
we will continue to strive to increase that further.’
The Ministry of Justice said the figures ’show the
highest success rate since the contract began and the rate of complaints was at
its lowest level at just one per cent’.
A spokesperson for the ministry added: ’We are
absolutely committed to further improving performance to ensure a standard of
language services that meets the needs of all those who use the service in the
justice system.’
The present contract will expire on 30 October.
Competition for future contracts began in October last year.
When asked if Capita TI was hoping to carry on
providing interpreter services in the courts and tribunals, its spokesperson
said it would not be appropriate for the organisation to comment at this stage.
Since the ministry introduced a new interpreting
contract in 2012, it says it has spent £38m less on language service fees.
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