FOI - Translation and Interpretation Services

FOI - Translation and Interpretation Services

27 September 2018

Ministry of Justice

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/translation_and_interpretation_s_37#incoming-1240512

Home Office

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/translation_and_interpretation_s_32#incoming-1238331

Can You Hear Us? Interpreters and Detainee Welfare in Immigration Removal Centres

https://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2018/09/23/can-you-hear-us-interpreters-and-detainee-welfare-in-immigration-removal-centres/

24 September 2018

Can You Hear Us? Interpreters and Detainee Welfare in Immigration Removal Centres

[…] While in 2016, the main issue was a lack of use of professional interpreters, in 2018 he found that “use is now widespread but that quality remains an issue.” [1]. Although reliance on multilingual staff and other detainees continues, there appears to be greater use of telephone interpreting, particularly via the thebigword agency, which since the end of October 2016 has been delivering the foreign language component of the Ministry of Justice’s second Language Services Framework Agreement, across the legal sector, which has been expanded to the prisons and probation service. Another company cited, Language Line, has been used less frequently. […]

Read more here: https://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2018/09/23/can-you-hear-us-interpreters-and-detainee-welfare-in-immigration-removal-centres/

Grenfell Inquiry criticised for not funding translation of witness statements for survivors and witnesses

http://www.swlondoner.co.uk/grenfell-inquiry-criticised-funding-translation/

21 September 2018,

Grenfell Inquiry criticised for not funding translation of witness statements for survivors and witnesses

The inquiry into the deaths of 72 people in the Grenfell Tower fire is not automatically translating witness statements or expert reports into other languages, according to a leading charity.

According to the charity INQUEST, which handles state-related deaths, lawyers for the families bereaved by the fire on 14 June 2017 are having to apply for funding for evidence to be translated for their clients, as the inquiry itself will not fund translation services as a rule.

Remy Mohamed, Grenfell Project Coordinator at INQUEST, said: “It is disheartening to see that some bereaved survivors and residents feel disconnected from the inquiry process. Issues about the venue, disclosure and questioning of witnesses remain ever present.

“Through not routinely translating key statements and evidence, the inquiry team are further isolating those for whom English may not be a first language.” […]