Accredited official statistics

A Guide to language interpreter and translation services statistics

Published 25 September 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. Guide to language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals

1.1 Ministry of Justice

Last updated 17 September 2025

2. Introduction

This document provides more detail on language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals statistics presented in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) statistics publication Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly (CCSQ) and is intended to be used as a guide to concepts and definitions. It also covers overall statistical publication strategy, revisions, data sources, quality and dissemination, and methodological developments.

The key areas covered in this guide are:

i. A high-level background to the language interpreter and translation services systems;

ii. Details of the data sources and any associated data quality issues;

iii. Frequency and timings of the bulletin, and the revisions policy;

iv. Details of known users of the bulletin and user engagement channels;

v. Major legislation coming into effect in the period covered by the bulletin;

vi. A glossary of the main terms used within the publications;

vii. A list of relevant internet sites on the criminal court system.

3. Background to the language interpreter and translation services system

The data presented in the publication are statistics for face-to-face spoken and non-spoken language interpreter services provided to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) bodies including His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).  Data provided on the performance of services provided to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are excluded under this contract.

4. Coverage

The information presented in the publication covers completed requests for interpreter services and ‘substantiated’ complaints in relation to the services.

The statistics in this bulletin focus on four main areas:

• Completed language interpreter and translation services requests, broken down by requester type (criminal courts, tribunals, civil & family courts and other) and service type (‘standard languages’, ’languages permitted exceptional qualification requirements’ (languages without a Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI)) and ‘special services’ – see Annex C for the full list of languages);

• ‘Success rate’ of completed requests. Under the new contracts, this is calculated as the number of completed service requests which are fulfilled, as a proportion of all completed requests, excluding those requests that were cancelled. Under the previous contract with Capita Translation and Interpreting (CTI), this was calculated as the number of completed service requests which were either fulfilled, or the customer did not attend, as a proportion of all completed requests, excluding those cancelled by the customer. For more detail, see the glossary;

• Number of complaints made (and complaint rate) relating to language interpreter services requested, broken down by the nature of complaint and by requester type, and service type; and

• Number of completed ‘off contract’ language services requests, broken down by requester type and service type. When a request cannot be supplied under the contract, it is provided ‘off contract’. These requests are procured directly by the commissioning body and not through the relevant language service provider.

Data are not centrally held for the number of completed services, requests and complaints under the contracts before 30th January 2012. It is therefore not possible to say whether performance levels have changed pre- and post-30th January 2012.

The statistics covers all courts and tribunals in England and Wales and tribunals in Scotland. It excludes tribunals in Northern Ireland, although these were included prior to 31st October 2016 under the previous contract. 

Welsh language interpretation in court and tribunal hearings located in Wales is provided simultaneously, with these interpreters booked through the HMCTS Welsh Language Unit (welsh.language.unit.manager@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk).

This service is not part of the Ministry’s Language Services Contract and is therefore not covered by this publication. The Welsh Language Unit only uses interpreters who have successfully passed the Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru (Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters) examination. Any data included in this publication on the use of Welsh relate only to the provision of Welsh interpreting that takes place in England or Scotland.

The statistics include breakdowns by service type; ‘standard language’, ’languages permitted exceptional qualification requirements’ (languages without DPSI) and ‘special services’. The distinction between standard and languages permitted exceptional qualification requirements is based upon the standard qualification requirements of the interpreter. Qualification requirements for these languages are set out in the contract at Schedule 2, Annex 2, clauses 1.2, 2.2, 3.1.4.

There are 41 standard languages stated in the previous framework but the variant languages included can change depending on which ones have been recorded. Any other spoken language, outside of the 41 languages, are included in ’languages permitted exceptional qualification requirements’, while non-spoken languages are included in special services. Details are shown ‘Glossary’.

5. Contracts

From 31st October 2016, these services have been supplied under a contract with thebigword Group Ltd and Clarion UK Ltd.

Prior to this, since 2012 these services were provided under a contract with Capita Translation and Interpreting (CTI).

From 31st October 2016, following a public procurement exercise services began to be delivered, in accordance with a bespoke set of terms and conditions, by two suppliers – ‘thebigword Group Ltd’ and ‘Clarion UK Ltd’. This allows bodies named in the contract to use the language services they require without recourse to further competition.

A new independent quality assurance service has also started to be provided by The Language Shop (London Borough of Newham). The Language Shop accepts complaints about interpreter services.  As such the data on complaints (shown in table L2) are taken from the Language Shop, thebigword and Clarion.

5.1 Table 1:  Suppliers from 31st October 2016

Face to face and telephone interpretation (lot 1)	thebigword Group Ltd
Translation and Transcription (lot 2)	thebigword Group Ltd
‘Special services’ (lot 3)	Clarion UK Ltd
Independent Quality Assurance (lot 4)	The Language Shop

All courts, tribunals and prisons began to use services under the terms of the new contract from 31st October 2016 onwards. Due to the change in suppliers, data under the pre-31st October 2016 (‘old’) and post-31st October 2016 (‘new’) contracts have been combined to give an overall figure for Q4 2016 and calendar year 2016.

6. Data sources and data quality

This section outlines the different data sources used to compile the statistics presented in the bulletin. Each section details any data quality considerations for each source, outlines checks completed (by system owners and statistical processes) and flags any areas of concern.

7. Data sources

Data from 31st October 2016 for completed requests and complaints relating to face-to-face services are taken from the language service booking portal managed by thebigword Group Ltd. Similarly, data for completed requests and complaints relating to special services (i.e. non-spoken languages) are taken from the language service booking portal managed by Clarion UK Ltd.

Data Sources

Data	Detail	Company
Lot 1	Face to face and telephone interpretation	thebigword Group Ltd
Lot 3	Special services (e.g. British sign language)	Clarion UK Ltd
Lot 4	Independent Quality Assurance – validate lot 1 complaints	The Language Shop (London Borough of Newham)
Off contracts	Bookings fulfilled by the MoJ as not filled by contractors	MoJ Commercial team

From 2012 to 31st October 2016 these services were provided under a contract with Capita Translation and Interpreting (CTI) and data was sourced from different administrative systems.  Because of a change in providers there are definitional differences that will impact the comparison of data over time, e.g. the allocation of ‘Other’ requester types and calculation of the success rate will vary.  The outcome status used to calculate the success rates in the old contract have been mapped to the outcome status in the new contract.

MoJ have undertaken a review of the off-contract data collection methods.  Improvements to the collection have resulted in a more robust but higher baseline of activity than previously reported. This is considered a necessary change that improves data integrity and make accurately reflects the off-contract request volumes.

The development in this data series reflects the MoJ’s commitment to continuous improvement and best practice - ensuring more reliable insights into booking activity in future. The improved data is available from April 2024 currently and we will seek to revise the back series in future to reflect the improvements.

7.1 Table 2: Mapping of outcome requests from the old to the new contract

Old contract	New contract
Fulfilled (Total completed requests - not fulfilled by supplier - cancelled by customer - supplier did not attend - customer did not attend)	Fulfilled (All requested bookings - Unfulfilled bookings - Cancelled bookings)
Not fulfilled by supplier	Unfulfilled booking
Cancelled by customer	Cancelled booking
Supplier did not attend	Unfulfilled booking
Customer did not attend	Cancelled booking

All requests for interpretation services are booked by staff in various MoJ bodies. Requests are made in advance via a web-based portal, by email or by telephone. There is no minimum period of notice, and some requests are made less than an hour before they are needed. The supplier will attempt to assign a translator for the requested service, and once the service has been provided, or the date for the requested service has passed, the request may be closed by the requesting court or tribunal. HMCTS staff are responsible for closing completed requests within 48 hours of the booking being concluded.

Language interpreter and translation statistics are generated from datasets provided by the contractors. They include the numbers of completed requests and details of complaints associated with each request. Furthermore, complaints can be made which are unrelated to any particular booking.

Further to recommendations made by the Justice Select Committee^{[footnote 1]}, a method has been developed to collect statistical information on ’off contract’ bookings (i.e. all face to face interpretation services provided to courts and prisons outside thebigword Group Ltd and Clarion UK ltd contracts), which commenced for all courts in April 2013. The number of ‘off contract’ bookings made by magistrates’ courts, civil and family courts and Crown Courts are collated using manual data returns from each court. Each court or tribunal is required to complete a monthly count of bookings and return to their Regional Support Unit, who collate the information and forward it to Ministry of Justice officials for quality assurance and review. Due to the manual method of data collection, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

MoJ have undertaken a review of the off-contract data collection methods.  Improvements to the collection have resulted in a more robust but higher baseline of activity than previously reported. This is considered a necessary change that improves data integrity and more accurately reflects the off-contract request volumes. 

The development in this data series reflects the MoJ’s commitment to continuous improvement and best practice - ensuring more reliable insights into booking activity in future.  The improved data is available from April 2024 currently and we will seek to revise the back series in future to reflect the improvements. 

8. Counting rules

These are some main points to consider when interpreting the language interpreter and translation services statistics:

• Bookings: The time that the language service is provided is taken to be the end time for the request, even if the request extended over several days. If the service extends over the end of a month, it will be classed as happening in the month when it ended.

• Multi-day bookings: Multi-day bookings exist where an interpreter is required for the same job over several days. Each day can have a different outcome, although there will only be one overall outcome for the booking, as defined below. For example, if a linguist is required for 3 days, the first day of the booking can be fulfilled, the second day can be unfulfilled while the third and final day could be cancelled. Multi-day bookings are taken to have occurred on the date on which the multi-day booking was concluded. For example, a multi-day booking which started in March 2017 but concluded in April 2017 will be included in data for April 2017, not in data up to 31 March 2017.

Multi-day bookings are counted as single bookings, both contractually and within our statistics. The overall outcome of a multi-day booking is established as follows:

1. If at least one day of the booking is unfulfilled while the other days of the booking are fulfilled or cancelled then that multi-day booking will be determined as unfulfilled.

2. If at least one day of the booking is fulfilled while the other days of the booking are cancelled then that multi-day booking will be determined as fulfilled.

3. Therefore, ALL days of a multi-day booking must be cancelled to have an overall status of cancelled.

• Multi-interpreter bookings: Multi-interpreter bookings exist within the Lot 3 data when multiple interpreters are required for the same job. Each interpreter is listed separately, meaning each interpreter is classed as an individual booking. The only instance in which a multi-interpreter booking is classed as the same booking is if one interpreter is unable to complete a requested booking and another interpreter is used to complete the booking. This would be counted as one booking.

• Outcome: The classifications for outcome status used in this bulletin, such as ‘fulfilled’ and ‘cancelled’, are taken directly from a dataset produced by the suppliers, and are assigned according to the rules set out in the contract, using a script created by the contractor. A glossary list of terms used in this bulletin can be found in Annex B.  The outcome status for bookings data from the contract under CTI have been mapped into the three categories: unfulfilled, fulfilled and cancelled; the mapping is shown in Table 2 of Annex B.

• Complaints: All complaints are counted even if there is more than one complaint per booking. The complaints record when the complaint was made rather than the time of the booking. Furthermore, complaints can be made which are unrelated to any particular booking, this may result in complaints having an unknown language or requester type.

Reasons for a complaint under the new suppliers are assigned to a specific category, selected by the user or assigned by suppliers, based on the content of the complaint. The complaint categories changed from 31st October 2016 due to a change in complaints management systems and processes between suppliers.  Complaints can be made to an independent contractor, the Language Shop, under Lot 4. These complaints are added to those made to suppliers, with any duplicates being identified and removed.

• Requester type ‘other’: From Q4 2016, ‘Other’ includes the following MoJ bodies: HMPPS (part of which was previously included under ‘Criminal’), Legal Aid Agency, Law Commission, Office of the Public Guardian, Official Solicitor and Public Trustee, Judicial Office, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation and Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. From Q2 2017, ‘Other’ also includes National Probation Service and Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) and The Salvation Army. Between 2013 and Q3 2016 ‘Other’ only included ‘MoJ HQ’. Part of HMPPS (HMPS) was included under criminal while the other part of HMPPS (previously known as NOMS) was excluded from the data.

9. Symbols and conventions

The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin:

[z]	= Not applicable
[x]	= Not available
0	= Nil

10. Data quality

Language interpreter and translation service statistics are published in compliance with the MoJ quality strategy for statistics, which states that information should be provided as to how the bulletin meets user needs.

Five principles (relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence) are outlined and this section details how each is addressed in the publication.

Principle 1: Relevance - the degree to which the statistical product meets user needs for both coverage and content.

The published language interpreter and translation services statistics help users to understand the volumes of requests for interpretation services across courts and tribunals. The figures broadly capture the ‘workload’ of the suppliers, the success rates in delivering against the contract, the number of complaints received and the volumes of ‘off-contract’ requirements across MOJ and associated bodies.  The published data are the only source of information held regarding the performance of service suppliers under the terms of the agreed contracts.

These statistics strive to be relevant across a range of users, and the criminal court statistics team routinely seeks out feedback from both internal and external users to enhance what is published. When a change is requested, we work with analytical colleagues and data providers to explore what is possible and whether the data available is fit for this purpose before any change is made.

Principle 2: Accuracy and reliability - the closeness of the estimated or observed result and the (unknown) true value.

The language and interpreter statistics are Official statistics in development based on administrative data of the service providers which have been established to facilitate the passage of requests through the system.

Data is received by the MoJ and undergoes a series of checks including:

• Ensuring that data is complete as possible given the administrative nature of the data, such as, confirming that the requests include a completed reason.

• Monitoring and removing duplicated requests and complaints – this included ensuring multi-day requests, so that each language request is accounted for once.

• Ensure that complaints that are received from the independent complaints company (The Language Shop – lot 4) are included within the complaints data from theBigWord (lot 1). Check for consistency between the two data sources.

• Engage with service providers and commercial teams to understand how their processes work and to query anomalies in the data.

Principle 3: Timeliness - the lapse of time between publication and the period to which the data refer. Punctuality refers to the time lag between the actual and planned dates of publication.

Language interpreter and translation services statistics are published at quarterly intervals at 9:30am on a date which has been pre-announced in advance on the gov.uk website.

Each release is published towards the end of the third month after the period to which the headline figures relate. For example, statistics for October to December 2018 were published on 28 March 2019. This is to strike a balance between the need to minimise the delay in releasing statistics and ensuring a robust and high-quality product. For example, the three-month time lag allows for any late data returns, provides time for any amendments to source data following validation and time for the analysis to be carried out, and a short period for the bulletin to be produced.

Principle 4: Accessibility and clarity - statistics are presented in a clear and understandable form, released in a suitable and convenient manner, available and accessible on an impartial basis with supporting metadata and guidance.

The language interpreter and translation services statistics are published alongside the Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly. 

This ensures that statistics regarding criminal court caseloads are published together in a single quarterly series of National Statistical releases, available on the gov.uk official statistics calendar. It comprises of both summary information, detailed data tables and ‘open data’ files to seek to address a range of users’ needs alongside this technical guide document to aid users. The commentary is written by professional statisticians and aims to be impartial, helping users put the figures into meaningful context. The bulletin is produced independently and figures are subject to strict pre-release access for essential individuals – no other access to statistics in their final form are made available prior to publication. 

Both this guide and each release includes contact details for the lead statistician or respective mailboxes within ‘Analysis: Courts and People’ for users to address any concerns. These inboxes are routinely monitored and any queries are actioned as quickly as possible.

Principle 5: Comparability and coherence - comparability is the degree to which data can be compared over time, by region or other domains. Coherence is the degree to which the statistical processes, by which two or more outputs are generated, use the same concepts and harmonised methods.

The administrative systems that underpin the language interpreter and translation services data are owned and operated by the service suppliers under the existing contracts.

A consistent time series is used in the publication and largely related to the availability of administrative data linked the contract provision – where possible the longest time series is supplied. Changes in service suppliers under the new and old contracts are flagged and caveated in ‘Data sources’ as well as in the associated tables, charts and text where practical, this includes notes of any various in source and key events (e.g. policy changes) that may have affected a period.

The language interpreter and translation services statistics are the only source of information relating to use of interpreters across the MoJ and as such there is no known comparator. 

11. Official statistics in development status

The language interpretation and translation statistics are ‘Official statistics in development’ – the series remains in the testing phase and is not yet fully developed.  Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing a development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for statistics.

Until September 2023, they were called ‘experimental statistics’. Official statistics in development are developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics (HoP). The goal is to develop statistics that can, in due course, be produced to the standards of the Code. 

The published estimates are not Accredited official statistics and unlike the Criminal Court Statistics which they are published along, they have not undergone the relevant assessment and badging by the Office for Statistics Regulation. Official statistics in development are developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics (HoP). The goal is to develop statistics that can, in due course, be produced to the standards of the Code^{[footnote 2]}.  The published estimates are not Accredited official statistics and unlike the Criminal Court Statistics which they are published along, they have not undergone the relevant assessment and badging by the Office for Statistics Regulation.

12. Introduction to Cabinet Office KPI data 

The Cabinet Office oversee and publish quarterly Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data on all central government contracts including language interpreter and translation services owned by the MOJ. 

Under procurement regulation, contracting authorities are required to set and assess a supplier’s performance against KPIs. For contracts greater than £5 million, the contracting authority and supplier must set at least three KPIs.

For language interpreter and translation services the KPIs focus on performance and operational delivery against the contracts (see Table One) and differ in scope from the published language interpreter statistics.

• The MOJ statistics provide a holistic overview of the language interpreter and translation service across the MOJ (covering courts, prisons and other areas) - including booking volumes, fulfilment rates, complaints volumes and off-contract bookings. The published statistics include more granular splits (e.g. requestor type), where available, to aid user understanding and help them better understand service use.

• In addition, the MOJ statistics include a time series back to 2014 and show the trend over time across previous and existing contracts. Whilst the Cabinet Office data can be combined to generate a time series back to Q1 2020, this data focuses on quarterly snapshots and measures performance against contract at a point in time. The MOJ publication includes commentary on changes over time as well as a supporting technical guide which provides context, data quality guidance and key definitions to support users.

There are 12 KPIs covering language interpreter and translation service usage across the MOJ, which are reported by the Cabinet Office (for further detail see Table One in the Technical Guide Annex):

• thebigword Group Limited is responsible for Lot 1 Face-to-Face and Telephone Interpretation and Lot 2 Translation and Transcription. It has six KPIs relating to these.

• Clarion Interpreting Ltd is responsible for Lot 3 Non-Spoken Language Services and has three KPIs.

• The Language Shop is responsible for Lot 4 Interpreter Service Complaints and Complaint Rates and has three KPIs.

12.1 Published metrics of interpreter service performance

Performance metrics for the MOJ interpreter service are published across several different groups of metrics.  The MOJ Official Statistics include headline performance metrics, such as the number of fulfilled bookings and the number of unfulfilled bookings, for the MOJ interpreter service across the whole range of customer bookings.  The ineffective trial data published within the MOJ Official Statistics presents how many criminal trials have been delayed due to “no interpreter available”.  The number of complaints, and the main reason for the complaint, is also published, as is the number of “off-contract” interpreter bookings, all in the MOJ Official Statistics release. 

Further to the MOJ Official Statistics publication, the Cabinet Office publishes performance metrics, KPIs, for the Language Services contracts.  These provide further information regarding the performance of this contract and service. 

12.2 MOJ Official Statistics 

Overall contract performance is published in the Official Statistics and is measured through the fulfilment “success rate”.  The statistics look across the total bookings for all users across all lots/contracts.   

The statistics classify fulfilled, unfulfilled and cancelled booking volumes in a given period.  Cancelled bookings are reported but do not form part of the success rate as the booking was not required.  The fulfilment rate provides a headline measure of the percentage of fulfilled bookings relative to unfulfilled bookings.   

Separately, details of complaints are collated and categorised to understand trends and any underlying issues.  The complaints data collection is distinct to an unfulfilled booking and reflects the separate processes, i.e., the complaints process is a distinct procedure seeking to capture further detail around potential improvements to booking outcomes. 

In addition, the statistics include a headline count of “off-contract” bookings where a user chose to secure language and translation services from another party.  The off-contract count relates to all bookings carried out in this manner and is a separate collection sourced from the MOJ contracted service teams to capture wider requirements for language services. 

12.3 Note regarding unfulfilled bookings versus ineffective trials 

Unfulfilled bookings will be recognised in the “success rate”, i.e. every unfulfilled booking reduces the “success rate”.  However, it is important to note that an unfulfilled booking does not necessarily result in a delay to a court or tribunal hearing – venues are allowed to source an interpreter “off-contract” to ensure that a hearing can go ahead.  This is why the ineffective trial due to “no interpreter available” statistic is lower than the unfulfilled booking rate – the gap is closed through the use of “off-contract” interpreters. 

12.4 Key links:

MOJ Language Interpreter and Translation Service statistics (Tables L1-L3): Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK (see Tables document)

• L1 – Request fulfilment

• L2 – Complaints

• L3 – Off contract requests

MOJ Trial Effectiveness Tool:

Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK (see Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool)

• Reason 29: Ineffective reason: No interpreter available

Cabinet Office KPI data

The Cabinet Office publish KPI data quarterly by financial year and it is available from 2020 Q1. To find data relating to interpreters and language services you can search for ‘Translation and Transcription’, ‘Language Services Lot 1’, ‘Language Services Lot 3’ and ‘Language Services Lot 4’ within the ‘Contract title and description’ column. Alternatively, you can search for the individual suppliers under the ‘Supplier’ column: ‘thebigword Group’1, ‘Clarion Interpreting Ltd’ and ‘the Language Shop’.   

13. Revisions

This publication and the data within are published quarterly, with a more detailed annual publication released in June.

The data presented in this publication are provisional. Final data for each calendar year is published in June each year, following further data cleaning and the incorporation of additional cases not available in our original extracts.

For upcoming publications please see the MoJ publication schedule.

In accordance with the Code of Practice for Office Statistics, the MoJ is required to publish transparent guidance on its policy for revisions.

The three reasons specified for statistics needing to be revised are;

1. Changes in source of administrative systems/methodology changes

The data within this publication comes from a variety of administrative systems. This technical document will clearly present where there have been revisions to data due to changes in methodology or administrative systems. In addition, statistics affected within the publication will be appropriately footnoted and estimates of the impact made available.

2. Receipt of subsequent information

The nature of any administrative system is that data may be received late. For this release, the late data will be reviewed on a quarterly basis. Unless the difference is deemed to make significant changes to the statistics released, revisions will only be made as part of the final annual release. However, should the review show that the late data has substantially impacted the statistics then revisions will be released as part of the subsequent publication.

3. Errors in statistical systems and processes

Despite the continued development of validation and verification procedures put in place to minimise the risk of errors, it is not possible to entirely rule out errors arising from statistical processes. Should a substantial error be identified, the publication on the website will be updated and an erratum slip published documenting the revision as soon as is practicable.

14. Users of the statistics

The main users of these statistics are Ministers and officials in central government responsible for developing policy regarding criminal court processes and the wider criminal justice system. Other known users include the commercial and operational partners who are responsible for the oversight of the contracted services and associated performance of suppliers.  Additional known users include central government departments, local government offices and voluntary organisations with an interest in criminal justice.

We routinely consult with policy and operational colleagues to refresh our understanding of core uses for the data, promote the release and provide support to known users.  We seek comments from external users and maintain dialogue with public users via dedicated email accounts for feedback on the commentary and any additional wider feedback or queries.

15. Glossary

This glossary provides a brief description of some of the main terms used in the commentary of this report. For further information, please contact the ‘Analysis: Courts and People’ division using the details provided in the ‘Explanatory Notes’ section at the end of this bulletin.

Cancelled bookings	Wherever the requirement for an interpreter/translator is withdrawn by the commissioning body because it was no longer required.
Complaint category - Interpreter conduct[footnote 3]	The way the interpreter conducted themselves is being questioned.
Complaint category - Interpreter did not attend	The assigned interpreter did not go to the assignment and did not inform anyone.
Complaint category - Interpreter quality	The quality of interpreting skill is being questioned.
Complaint category - Interpreter was late	The assigned interpreter was late getting to the assignment.
Complaint category - Operational issue	Operational issues include: interpreter with incorrect qualifications assigned issues with the web-based request portal, occasions when the customer has not been able to request one of the services that the supplier supplies and other occasions when the supplier has not supplied the service that is expected.
Complaint category - ‘Other‘	This includes complaints where no category was recorded in the data.
Complaint category - Other Interpreter issue	Any areas concerning the interpreter which are not covered elsewhere, e.g. dress code.
Complaint category - No interpreter available	The supplier was unable to provide an interpreter.
Complaint category - Time sheet error	Either the customer or the interpreter has closed the assignment’s time sheet entry down incorrectly.
Fulfilled	The supplier (thebigword Group Ltd and Clarion UK Ltd) provided an interpreter or translator as requested by the court or tribunal.
Languages permitted exceptional qualification requirements (languages without DPSI) (152)	Acholi, Afar, Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Amoy, Anaang, Ashanti, Assyrian, Azerbaijani/Azeri, Babani, Balochi, Bamanankan, Bambara, Bantu, Barawe, Basque, Belarusian, Bemba, Berber, Bilen, Bisaya, Bosnian, Bravanese, Burmese, Catalan, Chaldean – Neo Aramaic, Chechen, Chinese (all variants), Chichewa, Creole (all variants), Cypriot, Daju, Danish, Dholuo, Dioula, Dzongkha, Edo, English, English (Pidgin), Eritres Ewe, Ewe (Togo), Filipino (all variants), Finnish, Fijian, Flemish, Fula, Fur, Ga, Gaelic (Irish), Gaelic (Scottish), Georgian, Gusii, Gorani, Hakka, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindko, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Ishan, Jula, Kachchi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Khmer, Kibajuni, Kikongo, Kikuyu, Kinyamulenge, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Konkani, Korean, Krio, Kurdish, Kyrghiz, Lak, Lao, Latin, Lango, Lingala, Luba-Kasai, Luganda, Macedonian, Makaton, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Malaysian, Maltese, Mandinka, Maninka, Marathi, Minangkabau, Mirpuri, Mongolian, Montenegrin, Mooré, Ndebele, Nepalese, Norwegian, Nzema, Oromo (Central), Oshiwambo, Otjiherero, Pahari, Papiamento, Patois (Jamaica), Pokomchi, Potwari, Quechua, Roma, Rohingya, Runyankole, Saho, Shina, Shona, Sindhi, Sinhala, Soninke, Sudanese, Susu, Swahili, Swedish, Sylheti, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Tajik, Tama, Telugu, Tetun, Tibetan, Tigre, Tigrinya, Tswana, Turkmen, Twi, Urhobo, Uyghur, Uzbek (Northern), Venda, Welsh (interpreted in England or Scotland only), Wolof, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zaghawa, Zarma-Songhay and Zulu.
Off-contract	Language services procured outside of the contracted services where fulfilment cannot be achieved by the supplier.
Requester type	Jurisdiction which requires the interpreter/translator, rather than who requests the interpreter/translator.
Requester type – Civil & family	Comprises requests made by all civil, family and county courts, Civil & Family Justice Centres, Civil & Family Hearing Centres, Huntingdon Law Courts, the Administrative Court at the Royal Courts of Justice, civil appeals at the Royal Courts of Justice, the Court of Protection, and the Administrative Court for Wales.
Requester type – Criminal	Comprises requests relating to criminal cases in magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts, the Central Criminal Court, criminal appeals at the Royal Courts of Justice, North Liverpool Community Justice Centre, Warwickshire Justice Centre and HMCTS London Collection & Compliance Centre.
Requester type – ‘Other’	Other comprises requests made by the following MoJ bodies: HMPPS, part of which was previously included under ‘Criminal’, Legal Aid Agency, Law Commission, Office of the Public Guardian, Official Solicitor and Public Trustee, Judicial Office, Salvation army, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation and Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, National Probation Service, Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS
Requester type – Tribunal	Comprises requests made by all Employment tribunals, Immigration & Asylum tribunals, Social Security and Child Support tribunals and Special tribunals.
Service type	Service provided by the interpreter. This could be standard languages, languages permitted exceptional qualification requirements (languages without DPSI) or special services.
Special services (7)	British sign language, Deaf relay, Electronic notetaker, Lipspeaker, Sign supported English, Speech-to-Text Reporter, Video remote interpreting.
Standard languages (41)	Albanian (all variants), Arabic (all variants), Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, Dari (all variant), Dutch, Estonian, Farsi, French (all variants), German (all variants), Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Kurdish (Sorani), Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Pashto (all variants), Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi (all variants), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Success rate	Success rate under the new contract: (All requested bookings – unfulfilled – cancelled) / (All requested bookings – cancelled) Success rate under the old contract: (Fulfilled bookings + customer did not attend) / (Fulfilled bookings + customer did not attend + not fulfilled by supplier + supplier did not attend) Combined success rate for 2016 and Q4 2016 In table L1, the figures for calendar year 2016 and Q4 2016 are a combination of data from both the old and new contracts. Therefore, to ensure the overall success rate has been calculated correctly, the success rates for 2016 and Q4 2016 are calculated using the outcome categories relevant to each supplier at the time of the data, as follows (Fulfilled bookings in new contracts + fulfilled bookings in old contract + customer did not attend in old contract) (Unfulfilled bookings in new contracts + fulfilled bookings in new contracts + fulfilled bookings in old contract + not fulfilled by supplier in old contract + supplier did not attend in old contract + customer did not attend in old contract)
Unfulfilled	The supplier (thebigword Group Ltd and Clarion UK Ltd) has been unable to fill the booking request (including where the language professional is assigned and booked but fails to attend).

16. Directory of related internet websites on the criminal courts

The following list of web sites contains information in the form of publications and/or statistics relating to the criminal justice system that may be of interest.

Ministry of Justice provides information on the organisations within the justice system, reports and data, and guidance.

Details of Ministry of Justice Statistical and Research publications, most of which can be viewed on-line.

For historic publications, see the links to ‘earlier volumes in the series’ (on Home Office site) on individual publication pages.

Information is available on the bodies within the justice system, such as HM Prison Service, the Youth Justice Board and HM Courts & Tribunals Service.

The Crown Prosecution Service gives information on the department and provides particulars in relation to legal guidance/victims and witnesses, in addition to details of publications.

The Attorney General’s Office provides information on the role of the department including new releases; updates; reports; reviews and links to other law officer’s departments and organisations.

The Welsh Assembly Government gives information on all aspects of the Welsh Assembly together with details of publications and statistics.

The Scottish Government gives information on all aspects of the Scottish Executive together with details of publications and statistics.

Criminal Justice System Northern Ireland provides access to the main statutory agencies and organisations that make up the CJS together with details of publications.

UK National Statistics Publication Hub is the UK’s home of official statistics, reflecting Britain’s economy, population and society at national and local level. There are links to the Office for National Statistics and the UK Statistics Authority.

17. Annex

Table One: KPIs that each supplier/contract is measured against

KPI	Supplier	Contract Title and Description
1. Complaint rate as a proportion of all bookings	thebigword Group Limited	Language Services - Lot 1 Face to Face, Telephone & Remote Interpreting for Spoken Languages
2. Complaint rate as a proportion of all bookings	thebigword Group Limited	Translation and Transcription – Lot 2 (under HMPPS for Business)
3. Telephone calls answered within 40 seconds as a proportion of all calls	thebigword Group Limited	Language Services - Lot 1 Face to Face, Telephone & Remote Interpreting for Spoken Languages
4. Timeliness of face-to-face and remote booking attendance	thebigword Group Limited	Language Services - Lot 1 Face to Face, Telephone & Remote Interpreting for Spoken Languages
5. Delivery of assignments to be delivered as requested in the booking by the booked end time	thebigword Group Limited	Translation and Transcription – Lot 2 (under HMPPS for Business)
6. Completion of assignments by Language Professionals with the appropriate qualification requirements	thebigword Group Limited	Translation and Transcription – Lot 2 (under HMPPS for Business)
7. Availability of booking service	Clarion Interpreting Ltd	Language Services - Lot 3 Non-Spoken Language Services
8. Complaints/issues as a proportion of all bookings made	Clarion Interpreting Ltd	Language Services - Lot 3 Non-Spoken Language Services
9. Interpreter attendance on time (face-to-face and remote)	Clarion Interpreting Ltd	Language Services - Lot 3 Non-Spoken Language Services
10. Spot check assessments completed against required number  (1% of bookings)	The Language Shop – London Borough of Newham	Language Services - Lot 4 Quality Assurance of Language Services
11. Complaints/issues as a proportion of all assessments delivered	The Language Shop – London Borough of Newham	Language Services - Lot 4 Quality Assurance of Language Services
12. Successful appeal rate against in person assessments	The Language Shop – London Borough of Newham	Language Services - Lot 4 Quality Assurance of Language Services

18. Contacts

Other enquiries about this guide should be directed to ‘Analysis: Courts and People’ division of the Ministry of Justice:

Criminal Courts and Sentencing Data and Statistics,
Ministry of Justice, 10 South Colonnade, London, E14 4PU

Email: Criminal_Court_Sta@Justice.gov.uk

General enquiries about the statistics work of the MoJ can be e-mailed to statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from www.statistics.gov.uk

© Crown copyright
Produced by the Ministry of Justice

Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

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1. www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmjust/645/645.pdf ↩

2. https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/  ↩

3. Interpreter conduct’ is a new category introduced under the new contracts from November 2016. ↩