The Ministry of Justice Framework Agreement for translation and interpreting services was implemented on 31 January 2012. The contract has provoked fierce resistance on the part of professional interpreters working in the criminal justice sector.
Justice interpreters and the professional organisations representing them condemn the absence of genuine consultation with the interpreting profession, and the resultant lowering of standards for justice interpreting. Consequently, a majority of Registered Public Service Interpreters have boycotted the Ministry of Justice’s preferred supplier, Capita Translation & Interpreting (formerly Applied Language Solutions Ltd) since day one.
Interpreters and their organisations have waged a dynamic and multi-pronged campaign in order to create awareness of the problems inherent in the contract. Our resistance has taken the form of grass-roots actions and initiatives by interpreters, and an overarching joint campaign by the membership bodies representing the profession.
The Professional Interpreters for Justice campaign has successfully harnessed the available political structures. We secured an investigation by the National Audit Office, which was followed by two inquiries by parliamentary committees: the Justice Select Committee and the Committee of Public Accounts. Subsequent to the Justice Select Committee report and the Government response to that report, a parliamentary debate was also held.
In addition, Professional Interpreters for Justice has built relationships with other bodies, professional organisations and pressure groups with an interest in Justice Sector Interpreting, and with the professional organisations of other legal professions. Active members of our respective organisations have created important platforms using social media, and they are invaluable for keeping the campaign alive.
Our campaign owes a debt to each and every interpreter who supports it. Together, we will continue to fight to reinstate high quality standards for Criminal Justice Interpreting in England and Wales.
Madeleine Lee is a Dutch translator and interpreter based in Hull. She has worked exclusively as a self-employed freelancer since leaving university a little over a decade ago. Madeleine is deeply concerned about the eroding of professional standards that occurs when policymakers and public procurement officers buy niche services such as ours, and is a fierce opponent of the Ministry of Justice language services framework.
As a member of the Professional Interpreters for Justice (PI4J) campaign steering committee, she co-ordinated the campaign’s written submissions to the investigation carried out by the National Audit Office, and the parliamentary committee inquiries by the Committee of Public Accounts and the Justice Select Committee. Madeleine was one of PI4J’s witnesses who gave oral evidence to the Justice Select Committee in October 2012. She is one of the directors of the Professional Interpreters’ Alliance and is serving her second term as an elected member of Council of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
Copyright © 2013 IAPTI - All rights reserved. Web developed by Websites for Translators. Theme by Olevmedia.