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THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE INTERPRETERS (NRPSI) REACTS TO 'FAKE INTERPRETERS' WORKING IN HMCTS SETTINGS NEWS STORY
- Feb 15, 2021
- Latest News
NRPSI is horrified by news reports (The Independent and Evening Standard) of the 'fake interpreters' sentenced on Friday 12 February 2021; horrified but not shocked. This type of situation has been waiting to happen or be uncovered. It comes as no surprise to NRPSI that it has occurred given the decline in standards of court interpreting that has been promoted by changes in how court interpreters are sourced by the justice sector.
NRPSI has today written to the Ministry of Justice again on the subject.
NRPSI has been campaigning for some time for the Ministry of Justice's language service framework agreements, procurement practices and contracts, and the language agencies that service these contracts, not to sacrifice interpreting standards and risk public safety and the reputation of the justice sector in favour of short-term commercial considerations. The lowering of interpreting engagement fees by language agencies and, in some instances, acceptance of language speakers with no interpreting qualifications for certain grades of assignment is taking its toll on the quality of language services available to the justice sector.
NRPSI believes that only properly remunerated registered and regulated interpreters with the required qualifications and experience should be used by the public services and for court interpreting in particular. Those interpreters who become registered have their credentials independently verified and are listed on the publicly available online Register of spoken word interpreters. This database is free to access and can be used to search for an interpreter by language or location as well as to check that they are registered.
Were only registered and regulated interpreters used for court interpreting, we would not be faced with the news reports of these 'fake interpreters' and the justice sector's integrity would not be threatened.
Mike Orlov, Executive Director and Registrar, NRPSI