MoJ releases guidance to courts for booking interpreters through Capita TI
Margaret Haig
Interpretation Project
Ministry of Justice, 2.19,
2nd Floor, 102 Petty France,
London,
SW1H 9AJ
E: interpretationproject@justice.gsi.gov.uk
www.justice.gov.uk
Yelena McCafferty
Our Reference: FOI 81739
Dear Mrs McCafferty,
Freedom of Information Request
Thank you for your e-mail of 25 March 2013, in which you asked for the following information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):
“I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
1. Please provide a copy of the interpreters guidance for court staff you refer to in your response to my FoI request, your reference: 79892.
2. Please provide a copy of the guidance that has been produced with in depth information on Interpreter rates published in HMCTS Communications 04/12, which you refer to in your response to an FoI request, your reference: FOI79441.
Please let me have the information requested above in the electronic form.”
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
I can confirm that the department holds information that you have asked for, and I am pleased to provide this to you.
For part 1 of your request, I attach the current guidance for staff which was issued in September 2012 and which I extracted in my response to FOI 79892. Please see Annex 1.
For part 2 of your request, I have checked Communication 04/12 which was issued to HM Courts and Tribunals staff in January 2012. There is no specific information on rates paid to interpreters. However, the communication annexed the original in-depth staff guidance, which is to what the financial process guidance in FOI 79441 refers. Please see annex 2.
Section 40(2)
Both annexes have been redacted to protect personal data. We are not obliged, under section 40(2) of the Act, to provide information that is the personal information of another person if releasing would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) for example, if disclosure is unfair.
The terms of this exemption in the Freedom of Information Act mean that we do not have to consider whether or not it would be in the public interest for you to have the information.
You can find out more about Section 40(2) by reading the extract from the Act and some guidance points we consider when applying the exemption, attached at the end of this letter. The Data Protection Act can be found at the following link: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents.
In addition to the above, some redactions in the annexes have been made under s.43(2) because of the commercial interests involved, or alternatively under s.31(1)(c) due to law enforcement reasons. Please see explanations below.
Section 43(2)
We are not obliged to provide information relating to commercial interests. In this case, we believe that the information would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person including the department who holds it (section 43(2) of the Act).
In line with the terms of this exemption, we have also considered whether it would be in the public interest for us to provide you with the information, despite the exemption being applicable. In this case, we have concluded that the public interest favours withholding the information.
When assessing whether or not it was in the public interest to disclose the information to you, we took into account the following factors:
Public interest considerations favouring disclosure
There is a general public interest in the disclosure of this information to ensure that there is transparency in, and accountability for, the management of public funds; that public money is being used effectively and that the Department is providing maximum value for the taxpayer.
Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information
There is a public interest against disclosure due to the impact it would have on the achievement of taxpayers’ value for money and on contractors’ competitiveness in respect of delivering interpreter services to courts.
The MoJ has a commercial responsibility to all suppliers to hold confidential any information made available through the course of procuring goods and services, for example, pricing/rates offered and accepted or available resources.
Releasing information of this nature into the public domain may prejudice the commercial activities and interests of both the MoJ and its suppliers were this information made available to competitors.
We reached the view that, on balance, the public interest is better served by withholding this information under section 43(2) of FOIA at this time.
You can find out more about section 43 by reading the extract from the Act and some guidance points we consider when applying this exemption, attached at the end of this letter.
Section 31(1)(c)
If section 43(2) does not apply to the redactions set out in the annexes, in the alternative we believe that section 31(1)(c) also applies as an exemption. We are not obliged to provide information if its release would prejudice law enforcement. In this case, we believe that releasing the information would be likely to prejudice the administration of justice (section 31(1)(c) of the Act).
In line with the terms of this exemption in FOIA, we have also considered whether it would be in the public interest for us to provide you with the information, despite the exemption being applicable. In this case, we have concluded that the public interest favours withholding the information.
When assessing whether or not it was in the public interest to disclose the information to you, we took into account the following factors:
Public interest considerations favouring disclosure
There is a general public interest in the disclosure of information to ensure that there is transparency in the processes and procedures used in the operation of public services.
Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information
There is a public interest against disclosure to ensure that the security of systems supporting the administration of justice are not compromised.
We reached the view that, on balance, the public interest is better served by withholding this information under Section 31(1)(c) of the Act at this time.
You can find out more about Section 31 by reading the extract from the Act and some guidance points we consider when applying this exemption, attached at the end of this letter.
You can also find more information by reading the full text of the Act (available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/contents) and further guidance http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance.
You have the right to appeal our decision if you think it is incorrect. Details can be found in the ‘How to Appeal’ section attached at the end of this letter.
Disclosure Log
You can also view information that the Ministry of Justice has disclosed in response to previous Freedom of Information requests. Responses are anonymised and published on our on-line disclosure log which can be found on the MoJ website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-requests/latest-moj-disclosurelog
The published information is categorised by subject area and in alphabetical order.
Yours sincerely,
Margaret Haig
HM Courts and Tribunals Service Interpretation Project
