Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders on insourcing court language interpretation services.

Regarding insourcing, the Ministry of Justice received and considered feedback from various interested parties, including external stakeholders and court users. It was determined that the service that will best suit the wide-ranging needs of users of language services continues to be a national, centralised booking and matching service. I would like to provide assurance the project considered the potential for bringing the service fully or partially in-house when assessing its options. However, these proved to be unaffordable.

The Ministry of Justice established an external stakeholder forum in 2021 with external organisations with an interest in the Department’s work, with the first meeting held on 8 June 2021. The forum comprises members from organisations representing interpreters and visual and tactile communication practitioners, as well as voluntary regulator organisations, including the National Register for Public Sector Interpreters (NRPSI). The purpose is to share information, facilitate communication and understand key issues or concerns of their members. The Department informed forum members in 2023 that it planned to continue with an outsourced model after an assessment indicated it is the best model for our needs.

With all Government contracts, we must consider what is the best value for taxpayers’ money, taking account of quality, deliverability and cost. On balance, we think outsourcing these services provides the best value for money. The decision has been made with input from a number of functional departments within the Ministry of Justice and approved by the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.