General News Articles

Language Line Services Subscribe to the National Register of Public Service Interpreters

Following the decision by Thames Valley Police to award the contract for the provision of interpreting services to Language Line Services, the Board of NRPSI Ltd has granted a licence to Language Line services to have access the National Register. Language Line Services will only have access to the records of those registered interpreters who have given consent for their details to be made available to agencies.

Questionnaire on Community Interpreting

We have received a request from Ms Margareth Kirchgasser of the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, Austria.

She is currently writing on a research paper on Community Interpreting in the medical sector and would be grateful if interpreters working in this sector could spare a minute to fill out her questionnaire.

Please return the completed questionnaire to margareth.kirchgasser@edu.uni-graz.at.

Thames Valley Police

If you have provided face - to -face interpreting services to Thames Valley Police (TVP) since April 2007, you will have received recently a letter from Norman Bunce, Senior Contract Manager for TVP, dated 11 August 2008, about the outsourcing of interpreting services. Click here to see a copy of the letter.

NRPSI Ltd is currently negotiating with Language Line Services (which won the TVP contract) in respect of its application for a licence for the National Register; we will notify all interpreters once these negotiations have been concluded.

NRPSI Ltd would like to make it clear that only those interpreters who have given their consent to NRPSI for their data to be accessed by intermediaries will be available to Language Line Services in respect of this contract. If you wish to check or amend your consent status please contact the office on nrpsi@iol.org.uk.

Message from Her Majesty’s Court Service

Her Majesty’s Courts Service has asked NRPSI to post the following message:

Last June a defendant was found guilty at a Crown Court and immediately drank from a bottle he had with him which contained enough chemicals to kill him. According to the report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, the interpreter in the case had vital information about the possibility that the defendant might harm himself but that the interpreter shared this information with no one. HMCS (Her Majesty’s Courts Service) have contacted the National Register and have asked that we inform all interpreters that if they have reason to believe that anybody they are interpreting for in courts plans to harm themselves (or others) they should, while using their experience and judgement, take steps to inform the Solicitor and/or an officer of the court.

The McInally Cup - Nominations invited

As you will know, each year the IoL Educational Trust presents prizes to candidates and Centres for outstanding performance in its examinations. The prizes, which have over the years been presented to the Trust by a range of institutions and individuals, include the McInally Cup which recognises and rewards innovation and leadership in the field of interpreting.

Open to individuals or institutions, in 2007 the McInally Cup was won by The Better Trials Unit of the Office for Criminal Justice Reform

The McInally Cup winner is chosen by a panel who now invite nominations. Previously unsuccessful nominations can be resubmitted. Please click here for the forms - extra copies can be obtained from nrpsi@iol.org.uk

or downloaded from the Chartered Institute of Linguists web site www.iol.org.uk.

Nominations should be received by August 31st 2008.

National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI): Proposal

Dear NRPSI professional

I am writing to seek your views on the attached proposal and to update you on developments at the National Register.

The proposal Proposal.pdf is an initiative to change the way commercial intermediaries working on behalf of Public Services interact with professional registrants. The proposal has been under consideration for some time and we are now at the stage of public consultation with all stakeholders in the NRPSI project. We would very much like to hear your views on this proposal and I would therefore urge you to respond. The result of this consultation will be examined by the NRPSI Committee which will report its findings to the NRPSI Board.

The consultation period starts from 31st March 2008 and ends at the close of office hours on Friday 9 May 2008. Any responses received after that time will not be considered. If you wish to respond please complete the form RESPONSE.doc and return by email to March08proposal@iol.org.uk , or by post to:

NRPSI Ltd, Saxon House, 48 Southwark Street, London SE1 1UN.

Please mark your response clearly "NRPSI Proposal" (in the subject line of an e-mail or on the envelope, if sent by post).

You may recall that in the newsletter in December I mentioned the formation of a new NRPSI Committee to consider and advise on matters of NRPSI policy and development. I am pleased to let you know that the Committee’s membership is almost complete, following the IoL Council’s appointment to the Committee of the three public services representatives: Magali Provensal (Criminal Justice); Penny Smith (Health); and Jaimin Patel (Local Government). We also received a limited number of expressions of interest from professionals on the register in respect of the two places reserved for professional registrants and one appointment in respect of those has now been made. We are still looking for a registrant working predominantly in the health and/or local government sector; however in the interests of getting the committee up and running without further delay, we have decided to proceed with one registrant place as yet unfilled. Once again, if you are registered on the NRPSI with a DPSI in Local Government and/or Health and would be interested in serving on the Committee, please forward your expression of interest to the contact addresses shown above.

I look forward to receiving your response to the proposal attached.

Yours sincerely

Brooke Townsley
Chair
NRPSI Ltd

09/04/08

Greater Manchester Police clearance now acceptable for entry onto NRPSI

NRPSI wishes to announce that we can now accept the Greater Manchester Police Security Clearance for registration on the National Register. Any Interpreters who wish this clearance added to their record are asked to send the Security Clearance letter into the National Register office. If you have misplaced your letter please contact Ms Vivian Zuball of Greater Manchester Police on 0161 856 2692 to obtain a replacement. Please note that this security clearance is only available to those interpreters who work for Greater Manchester Police.

11/12/07

Code of Professional Conduct

The Council of the Chartered Institute is working towards the introduction of a revised Code of Professional Conduct (PDF, 53.1kb) and revised Disciplinary Procedures, for implementation in the New Year. The Code and Procedures will apply to members of the Chartered Institute, to Chartered Linguists and to registrants on NRPSI.

26/10/07

Downing Street Petition

The NRPSI has been asked to alert registrants to an online petition being prepared for presentation to 10 Downing Street. You can view the petition at the link shown below. You may wish to read it and the additional information provided before deciding whether to add you name.

10/07/07

OCJR project on legal interpreters and translators

The first phase of the Home Office's Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) project, to revise the National Agreement on the engagement of interpreters and translators in the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, is now complete. We are pleased to tell you that the new National Agreement is now online on the Home Office Police website.

The need to up-date the 2002 version of the National Agreement was identified by criminal justice agencies and interpreter bodies represented on the Interpreter Working Group, and is the result of a collaborative process over many months. The participants have included all the main spoken language and LSP (for deaf and deafened clients) organisations, as well as representatives of the criminal justice services. The IoL, IoLET and NRPSI have been privileged to contribute, along with others. The agreement is being made available to all those who have contributed and we shall play our part in its dissemination.

31/01/07

“Translation and Interpretation Services” Report - Coventry Partnership

The Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (IoL) and the Operations Manager of NRPSI Limited have received emails from many NRPSI registrants and Institute members concerning statements made in a Report prepared by the Coventry Partnership titled “Translation and Interpretation Services” in January 2006.

The Institute and NRPSI Limited were neither involved or consulted in the preparation of the Report, nor was either company aware of its existence before it was recently brought to our attention. We are currently reviewing the Report and will approach its authors for clarification as to their sources and to request any necessary corrections.

Please bear with us while we make these enquiries. We shall report again in due course.

John Hammond
Chief Executive
Chartered Institute of Linguists (IoL)
Members of the Board, NRPSI Limited

Mandy Bradley
Operations Manager
NRPSI Limited

01/08/06

05/02/07

Revision of the National Agreement on the Use of Interpreters in the Criminal Justice System

The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR)1, in consultation with the Interpreters Working Group (IWG), has launched a project to revise and expand the National Agreement on Arrangements for the Attendance of Interpreters in Investigations and Proceedings within the Criminal Justice System.

The project has two main strands:
- Firstly, to put forward comprehensive proposals for revising the National Agreement, which was last revised in 2002.

- Secondly, to identify and promulgate measures to help ensure that across England and Wales there are enough suitable, skilled and security-checked interpreters and translators – including sign language interpreters – to meet the needs of the Criminal Justice System and ensure fairness of proceedings.

The aim is to produce proposals for revising the National Agreement by the end of this year. Measures to improve the supply of interpreters will necessarily take longer.

OCJR will be consulting with members of the IWG and other interested agencies, as well as the wider interpreter community.

1 OCJR is the cross-departmental team that supports all criminal justice agencies in working together to provide an improved service to the public. It reports to the Home Office, Department for Constitutional Affairs and Law Officers’ Departments.

16/05/06

This five minute film segment titled “Watch Your Tongue!” is intended to promote the Chartered Institute of Linguists in general and the National Register of Public Service Interpreters in particular. It formed part of a programme co-sponsored by the Chartered IoL titled “Including People” which was produced for closed-network broadcasting at the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA, formerly the Society of Chief Personnel Officers) Annual Conference & Exhibition held at the Hilton Brighton Metropole from 29th to 31st March, 2006. The programme was also viewable on the Local Government Channel (SKY Channel 181) every day for one week following the conference. Our objective was to emphasise the need to engage appropriately qualified interpreters and to publicise the National Register more widely in local government circles. Adding footage not included in the segment, we now intend to produce a slightly longer DVD film which can be used in promoting other aspects of the Chartered Institute’s activities and serve as a more general marketing tool.

In this short segment, the interpreting session at Reading Borough Council demonstrates the need not only to train interpreters, but also to train public service employees how to work with interpreters. The role of the interpreter is to reproduce exactly in the target language the same utterance as in the source language. Hence direct and not indirect or reported speech should be used. So in this example, the public service employee should be saying to the non-English speaker “So... you are still unable…”, rather than looking to the interpreter and saying “So... you are saying that he is still unable...”.

The Chartered Institute of Linguists would like to express its gratitude to all those members and non-members alike who participated in the film segment or assisted in its production, making their time and expertise available at very short notice and under difficult timetabling circumstances.

Watch film segment (Media Player 10 required - Download latest version)

13/04/06

We have received the attached communication and information brief from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). We provide this in the way of information only. We are in contact with the ODPM regarding the programme and will keep you informed as to how and when comments will be invited from us (Feb 2006).

14/03/06

The designation RPSI belongs to the National Register of Public Service Interpreters, NRPSI Ltd, and is protected. RPSI stands for Registered Public Service Interpreter and must only be used by interpreters currently registered with NRPSI Ltd.