To ask Her Majesty's Government how many court hearings held remotely since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have (1) included the virtual presence of an interpreter, and (2) been rescheduled because an interpreter was needed but not available. [T]
Answered on
18 June 2020
Information on how many hearings held remotely since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic for spoken and non-spoken interpretation is provided below. The difference in start dates reflect the fact that thebigword’s system did not start recording any remote bookings until 30th March. We expect that very few took place before this date.
Dates | Number of telephone interpreting hearings | Number of video remote interpreting hearings | |
thebigword – spoken interpretation | 30.3.2020 – 12.6.2020 | 2769 | 1470 |
Clarion uk – Non- spoken interpretation | 23.3.2020 – 12.6.2020 | N/A | 288 |
The Ministry of Justice does not collect data on all hearings that have been rescheduled because an interpreter was unavailable. HMCTS performance data, including ineffective trial rates due to interpreter availability, is currently not available for this period.