Stephen Bishop hits the nail on the head.

The National Register of Public Service Interpreters may be an imperfect instrument, but credit where it is due, a recent complaint about the expertise and training of a particular interpreter was dealt with promptly, professionally and courteously by his organisation.

It led to the interpreter in question being disciplined in a measured and appropriate manner.

I have no wish to seem impatient with other defence practitioners, hard-pressed as we all are. But if we were all to complain, where appropriate, then there would be three consequences:

i. the calibre and professionalism of interpreters in our police stations and courts would be enhanced;

ii. the Ministry of Justice’s ill-judged outsourcing of interpreting services would be further exposed for the arrogant and ignorant blunder it was; and

iii. as defence practitioners, we would escape the opprobrium that is surely to come as a result of this outsourcing.

I am at a loss to understand why the simple procedure of identifying contact details of a fully accredited interpreter by logging on to the NRPSI website is considered so much trouble.

Malcolm Fowler, Dennings, Tipton

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