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Please provide a copy of any instructions issued by the UK government/Ministry of Justice/Public Health England or other relevant authorities to be used by courts in England and Wales in relation to ensuring a 2 meter / 1+ meter distance for face-to-face interpreters working with defendants and witnesses in view of the COVID-19 situation. Please provide a copy of any relevant guidelines in line of Question 1 above in respect of any PPE interpreters are to be supplied with when working for HMCTS directly or via contracting agencies.
Charities, councils and NGOs have had to step in to translate important information about coronavirus for people whose English is weak. Despite warnings from charities, the government's official public information campaign has failed to create enough material in non-English languages.
The care of interpreters is an incredibly complex question and entirely depends on where they are sited. It is the responsibility of individual trusts to look after interpreters in hospital settings but, in other settings, it may be that of other organisations.
A police interpreter hired to talk to a Slovak couldn’t speak the lingo, it was claimed.
Another translator told force chiefs the blunder could have jeopardised a domestic slavery trial.
