Answers to ASLI Members' Questions

We keep trying everyone who is on our police bookings and out of hours lists, we talk to other BSL specialist agencies and if there is nobody available then we offer a range of dates and times when a qualified and experienced interpreter is available.

We only use registered RSLIs who are confident and experienced for these assignments. We recognise that police bookings can contain the most risk in the legal domains and that the constraints on interpreting can be higher in police stations than they are in court. It is often late at night, the interpreter/lipspeaker may not know what they are walking into, the situations can escalate rapidly from something straightforward to something much more complex and in addition there may be alcohol/aggression to cope with. We recognise that it is absolutely critical that only interpreters who are objectively confident will be able to assess risk and react accordingly and professionally.

We actively promote and support the use of video cameras in police stations and co-workers where appropriate. We are fully aware of the requirements of PACE and The Revised Agreement on the Arrangements for the Attendance of Interpreters in Investigations and Proceedings within the Criminal Justice System by the TRIALS issues group. We are however aware that Deaf awareness can vary between different local authorities, and Provision for practical arrangements varies widely from authority to authority.

For example, some counties have PICS (Police Investigation Centres) that are uniform and consistent from site to site and have both videos and procedures as standard. Others do not. We work hard to increase deaf awareness with police stations and we are also really grateful to our freelancers and staff who promote best practice when they are on and off-site.

We were set up, 10 years ago in response to local need as no-one was co-ordinating interpreting services in Cambridgeshire. We have over 15 years experience in working with Deaf people in a variety of roles such as advocacy or community support. Some of our staff have over 20 years experience, others are Deaf or hard of hearing. All of our 7 bookings staff have either met their deaf customers or talk to them on a regular basis through email/sms/IM. We recognise that there are challenges in setting up a National Service, especially in the Criminal Justice Sector as there are so many barriers between the Deaf person and the agency. However, we are a dedicated, experienced team in the office and have built up some great relationships with freelancers who do know the people involved. We really believe in clear communication and with input from deaf people directly we can usually get the interpreting service that is needed.

In response to our consultation we have been given some great ideas. One of them is to set up a National User Group that is 100 % Deaf-led; small regional meetings could then feed into policy at a National level. This way, the difficult issue of getting feedback on services could start to be addressed and we provide a really responsive service. We really like this idea and are investigating it further.

Legal work represents 7% of the total market for both spoken language and BSL/English interpreting. We have seen our market share in some areas plummet and in others rise as a result of the public sector crisis. There are also a lot more customers going to freelancers directly and there has been a large growth in the numbers of registered interpreters in recent years. These factors are out of our control and we have had to respond to them accordingly, as has everyone. With regards to local deaf associations, we are currently in negotiations with some of them and are having meetings with them to see if they would like to work with us. This is especially important for our out of hours, emergency service as we can only provide at this national level if we work with deaf associations, charities and businesses in a spirit of shared vision and expectations.

These have been sent to all the relevant RSLIs who are registered with us. We believe that this is above what is being offered to spoken language interpreters e.g. 3 hour minimum, mileage and a 3 day cancellation policy. This was established in the contract as the result of the hard work of ASLI, Signature and the BDA prior to the tender being finalised.

No, this is not necessary.

We are not a political, campaigning or advocacy organisation. We have 100% focus on our vision that every Deaf person gets the best communication and employment services in the right place at the right time. That is why we exist. We are really proud of our record in providing 96% fulfilment for all our contracts and ad hoc work, managing 50 bookings per day sometimes with a 2 hour response time to Deaf people across the country.

We make decisions based on what we experience, what we witness, touch and see with our hands and eyes and ears. Since working with ALS we have found them to be a good customer, friendly, flexible, easy to work with and quick to pay. We can only go on direct experience.

As is standard, we build teams of registered, experienced Registered Sign Language Interpreters, Lipspeakers and STTRs. We are currently in negotiation with deaf intermediaries and deaf interpreters to promote best practice within these professions.

Next year, we plan to roll out training and are currently in negotiations with various providers. Clarion will roll out a pilot for bursaries/sponsorship at a considerable level for legal training on established courses. If it is successful, this will be continued through the year. Clarion has held the Tribunals contract for 3 years and with the training and support that we were able to give, we helped with professional development for a significant cohort of interpreters. This is a model that we would like to continue.

No, this is not correct.

We are a corporate supporter of ASLI.

We currently support ASLI's view on using interpreters in ATW settings. There are occasions when the Deaf person wishes to use a CSW at work, and when this is appropriate (e.g. they are a staff member) this is supported.

This statement is incorrect and seems to be the result of considerable confusion. We have created a new freelance role, it is not part of our interpreting service and the title is “a CEC”. This stands for Communication Employment Consultant, and is a freelance version of an Employment Consultant. There is a large pool of very skilled ex-employment consultants who are either RSLI or level 3 and we are using this pool of talent. We are the only provider who are currently working with Deaf people to find employment on a National level. There was some confusion over the precise wording, however this has now been resolved.

This was a simple error due to the size and scale of communications that the courts had to carry out.

This is untrue. Clarion has 10 years experience in organising trials and this has never been our way of working, the concept that we would change a reliable way of providing a quality service in the courts is a misguided one and we are not sure where this idea originated. If anyone has heard these stories, please contact us for rebuttal/verification.

We have always worked with all language agencies, indeed Sign Solutions have been working with ALS for years. We are experienced at balancing the differing needs of BSL interpreters/Deaf customers and all language agencies. We also recognise the conflicting and competing demands on time and money of all parties and deal with all these to reach pragmatic outcomes. This is something that we are good at and have been doing for nearly a decade.

We will be able to have direct contact with the people making the bookings and in some cases, phones will be directly diverted to ourselves.

The use of internet, sms, Skype, efficient booking software and remote workers means that costs can be kept to a minimum. The cost comes in paying someone to answer the phone at 11pm or 3am or having someone get out of bed and go to the police station. Therefore, there is a real logic to making this a “one stop shop”-if lots of different authorities were paying lots of people to answer phones in the middle of the night, there costs would be astronomical. This way, volumes can kick in and costs kept down.

It is a very a difficult market at the moment for everyone and we hope our plans for the years will take us through it with no compromise on quality. We have lots of market information on how different sectors are behaving (some of them unusually, some less so, some are holding their value, others are not worth investigating) and we would be really happy to share this information with the interpreting profession if it helps. We are also moving over to paying people once a fortnight instead of once a month, which should help with cash flow. The nascent bursary scheme will also help with training and CPD costs.

This has never happened before with any of our contracts, if it did and became unsustainable we would walk away.

Compared to some of the contracts that we hold, it is relatively straightforward. The response times are reasonable, communication is flexible, we are allowed to talk directly to the clients, and phone calls may be diverted straight through to us. There is obviously the issue of volume; however thanks to the strength of our Senior Management Team and bookings staff, the large pool of freelancers that we work with, our strategic partners and our experience in this field we believe that we can manage a high level of demand.