politics | Steve Woods

MoJ up before the PAC again

18/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

The House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee is keeping up the pressure on the Ministry of Justice over its disastrous courts and tribunals interpreting service with Capita Translation & Interpreting.

On Monday 27 January 2014 the Committee has summoned the MoJ’s Permanent Secretary, Ursula Brennan, to give evidence on ‘Interpreter services’, as shown by the following extract from the Parliamentary business calendar.

3.15pm Public Accounts

Subject: Treasury Minutes follow-up (i) Severance payments (ii) Interpreter services (iii) Rural broadband
Witness(es): Una O’Brien, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health, Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chief Executive, NHS England and Mark Sedwill, Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Ursula Brennan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Sue Owen, Permanent Secretary, Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Jon Zeff, Director and Programme Senior Responsible Office, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

In the Committee’s previous examination of interpreter services in 2012 neither the MoJ nor Capita exactly came away unscathed. On publication of its subsequent report, Committee Chair Margaret Hodge MP was scathing about the way the MoJ had managed the placing of its contract (posts passim), saying: “This is an object lesson in how not to contract out a public service.”

As for Ursula, her Civil Service biography on the MoJ’s website linked to above informs us that she spent most of her career in what is now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). While there one of the areas in which she was involved was fraud (in that instance benefit fraud. Ed.). Evidence to date would tend to suggest that she is having difficulty finding it under her nose in her present department.

Update 26/1/14: Ursula Brennan will not now be appearing for the Ministry of Justice to assist the PAC with its continuing investigation of court interpreting; she has been replaced by Ann Beasley, Director-General of Finance at the Ministry of Justice and Peter Handcock CBE, Chief Executive of Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).

This is the third time Ursula Brennan has been due to appear before the PAC and has found something to do instead. One might get the impression she is frightened of Margaret Hodge et al., but I couldn’t possibly comment on that! 🙂

Hat tip: Louise Gough for the update.
More trouble with Capita Vietnamese interpreters

18/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

Our friends at Capita seem to be having a bit of bother recently with a dearth of Vietnamese interpreters (posts passim).

On 10th January, I.V., a solicitor wrote the following post on RPSI Linguist Lounge.

I was a duty solicitor on Tuesday night we were instructed on a cannabis factory case. Due to the co-accused giving an age the police did not believe we weren’t interviewed until mid afternoon. A decent interpreter turned up on time (credit where credit due).

To the surprise of my rep our client and the “youngster” were charged and RIC. I am fortunate to have a Vietnamese member of staff so she came in to see him with me. No police booked interpreter attended and at lunchtime despite many requests the court finally looked in to it. They booked Capita at 2 – the use of my interpreter for the case was discounted. No interpreter attended and at 2 pm with no idea of what was happening the pair were remanded to today.

The youth was taken to a detention centre and my client to Winson Green – an adult prison!! He is 18. Last night the court clerk in our hearing booked a new interpreter. None has arrived and despite conflicting stories we are now told none has been booked. The DJ has decided that should my interpreter be present this afternoon then a pragmatic approach may be taken. So all day yesterday much of today all for me for the mileage!! Of course we did nothing to help!!!

We went to the crown court as I ascertained that a trial was taking place there with a Vietnamese interpreter. No, can’t use her. The 2 people in custody are highly confused and both allocated to incorrect institutions. Mine has already tried to dispense with my services. Luckily the approached solicitor on realising someone else instructed withdrew and let me know. This is how I make £’0000’s a year!!

We used my interpreter in the end.
Italy puts free software first in public sector

14/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Politics, Tech

The Italian government has made free software the default choice for public sector organisations, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) reports. In a document (PDF, Italian) published last Wednesday, the Italian Digital Agency (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale) issued rules saying that all the country’s government organisations must consider using free software before buying licences for proprietary programs.

Logo of Italian Digital Agency

The document, “Guidelines on comparative evaluation [of software]”, sets out a detailed method which public bodies must follow when deciding which software to use. They are required to look for suitable free software programs or choose software developed by the public sector. They may only consider procuring proprietary software no suitable programs of these types are available.

“There is no excuse. All public administrations must opt for free software or re-use whenever possible”, says FSFE General Counsel Carlo Piana, who was part of the committee that advised on the guideline. “Now free software and re-use are the norm, proprietary software the exception. This is the most advanced affirmative action in Europe so far. I’m so proud that Italy leads the way, for once”.

The document was authored by the Italian Digital Agency, which for the first time consulted representatives from the public sector, the free software community, and proprietary software makers.

Importantly, the new rules come with a mechanism to ensure they are followed. Both public bodies and members of the public can ask the Italian Digital Agency to check if a given organisation is following the correct procedure. Administrative courts can annul decisions that contravene these rules and, in the event of negligence, individual public servants may be held personally liable.
EU also recommends ODF as a standard format

13/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Open Standards, Politics, Tech

As an answer to a question from a Swedish politician the EU Commission has also confirmed ODF as a standard document format, Germany’s Linux Magazin writes. However, free software advocates are criticising the step as “not far-reaching enough”.

Amelia Andersdotter MEP
At the end of November 2013 Amelia Andersdotter MEP, a member of the Swedish Pirate Party, submitted a written question to the EU Commission in which she dug deeper in two points into what was happening with file formats recommended by the EU. In 2011 Inter-Institutional Committee for Informatics had instructed all departments to support the OOXML standard developed and controlled by Microsoft. Andersdotter inquired what sense this still made when only one manufacturer is implementing the standard and how communication could take place with public sector organisations who are using other standards.

The Commission’s answer was given a few days ago. According to a report on Joinup, the EU’s public sector open source news site, EU Commission Vice-president Maroš Šefčovič himself responded to the written question and mentioned OOXML and ODF as minimum requirements for document exchange. Šefčovič maintains that this ensures no vendor lock-in exists or can occur. In addition, public sector organisations should support other file formats in accordance with the best effort principle, i.e. if this is practically possible.

Open source activists, such as the Open Forum Europe are describing the decision as overdue, but are criticising the EU for missing an opportunity for the EU to lead by example for not daring to stipulate ODF as a single open standard. Switzerland’s Open Systems Group welcomes this first step, Joinup states. Mathias Stürmer is even hoping that the Swiss government will follow suit, even though it is not within the EU; although it would definitely help to prompt other public sector organisations to make the change to ODF.
Kremlin to step up monitoring of its online detractors

12/01/2014 Steve WoodsPolitics, Social Media, Tech

Friday’s Le Monde reports that Russian State security agency the FSO is going to step up its surveillance of bloggers and others who are critical of the Russian government.

While Russian state security agencies already have surveillance systems in use, the administration has decided “to entrust this part of the work to professional computer specialists“.

Quoting Izvestia, Le Monde states that an invitation to tender with a maximum budget of 31.8 mn. roubles (€700,000) has been issued for the procurement of a centralised data collection system for data published on the internet.

The subject of the invitation to tender is the creation of a system comprising a database of citizens who have a “negative” opinion of the government and the provision of a daily summary of publications concerning the president, his administration, the prime minister or even the opposition. The procurement of this system is reportedly not a case of “turning up the heat” by the authorities, but more enabling them to anticipate some events by the early detection of protests being organised (a likely story. Ed.)
Can you find Vietnam on a map? Become a Vietnamese interpreter!

11/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

Hardly a week goes by without concern being expressed about the quality of the interpreters provided to the police, courts and tribunals by Capita T&I. Interpreters working for the company are allegedly classified by ability in 3 tiers, from 1 to 3, with Tier 1 as the highest and 3 as the lowest.

On 9th January RPSI Linguist Lounge published the following post outlining solicitor Richard Lacey’s experience with the need for a Vietnamese interpreter at St Anne Street Police Station in Liverpool.

I attended St Annes [sic] Street Police Station in Liverpool today for an interview requiring a Vietnamese interpreter having confirmed at 8.10 that said interpreter was attending at 9.30. When I arrived I was told by the custody officer that ALS/Crapita had called at 9.20 to say the interpreter was no longer available and they wouldn’t be able to supply one until 7 this evening.

The custody officer was no more happy than I was and had instituted some sort of escalation procedure. He then explained to me that there are differing grades of interpreter available and they might have to go for someone less qualified. I now understand that the top level can interpret both written and spoken versions of the language. The next level down can only translate orally. I am unsure what the lowest level can do – point out Vietnam on a map?? Possible grounds for appeal if interpreter assistance in police interview was inadequate? Savings in the system? – ho ho ho!

Incidentally, prior to qualifying as a solicitor, I was a police custody officer and we rarely had difficulties using NRPSI system!

When will the Ministry of Justice admit failure, do the decent thing and terminate the contract with Capita T&I? Probably never, given the government’s failure to acknowledge its mistakes, leaving a government of a different colour to do the decent thing after the 2015 general election.

In the meantime the waste of money and time continues, as does the delay and denial of justice.
Remembering WW1: fraternisation in the Dardanelles

10/01/2014 Steve WoodsPolitics

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916.

The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war and is considered a major Allied failure and the casualties and losses on both sides amounted to some 250,000 each on both the Allied and Turkish sides.

My paternal grandfather, Ted Woods, was shipped out there as a member of the Norfolk Regiment and was thus part of the PBI – the poor bloody infantry – the cannon fodder for the mechanised slaughter that characterised the erroneously styled Great War. The only photograph I’ve seen of him depicted him in his uniform just before being shipped out there.

Conditions for the Allied troops during the campaign could hardly be described as luxurious, as the picture below shows.

A trench in the Gallipoli campaign, 1915. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In some parts of the peninsula, the front line trenches between the Allied and Turkish forces were only a handful of metres apart and in spite of the ferocity of the fighting, there were times when fraternisation took place.

Gallipoli by Robert Rhodes James, originally published in 1965 by BT Batsford Ltd., and republished in 1974 as Part of Illustrated Grand Strategy series by Pan Books Ltd. gives one instance of fraternisation between Anzac (Australian and New Zealand) forces and their Turkish opponents on p. 187 of the Pan edition:

The Anzacs sometimes threw tins of bully-beef into the Turk trenches, and once received the reply: “Envoyez milk. Bully-beef, non”; on one occasion a tin of cigarettes came flying over from the Turkish trenches, on which was written, “Prenez avec plesir a notre heros ennemis*”.

*To our heroic enemies, take these with pleasure.

This year marks the centenary of the start of the First World War and already at least one government minister, Education Secretary Michael Gove, is banging the jingoistic drum (warning: link to Daily Mail article. Ed.). Unfortunately, Gove later received support for his attack on ‘left wing academics’ from those experts on the First World War – Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson (warning: link to yet another Daily Mail article. Ed.).

People as ignorant as Mr Gove et al. should heed the words of the late Harry Patch (17th June 1898 – 25th July 2009), who was dubbed “the Last Fighting Tommy” in his later years and who very wisely said the following:

[The] politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder.

Harry never spoke a word in public about WW1 until he was over 100 years old. Mr. Gove on the contrary approaches every subject with an open mouth and a closed mind.
Scarcity of Polish interpreters spreading

03/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

A few days ago, this blog reported on Capita’s seeming inability to find an interpreter for Polish – the third largest foreign born community in Britain after Irish and Indian born people – for a court case in Essex (posts passim).

This is not an isolated incident and appears to be spreading.

Today’s Stoke Sentinel carries a brief report of a 32 year-old man from the Bentilee area of Stoke on Trent whose case has been adjourned until 9th January.

According to the Sentinel’s report:

A 32-year-old man will appear in court next week accused of beating a woman. Arthur Neckar faces a charge of assaulting Anna Pirtrowska by beating on December 14. Neckar, of Wellfield Road, Bentilee, appeared at North Staffordshire Justice Centre yesterday where his case was adjourned to arrange for a Polish interpreter to attend.

Surely the court’s time and public money would have been saved had a Polish interpreter been present in court for the initial hearing?

Hat tip: Yelena McCafferty
US Customs needs no reason to examine travellers’ electronic devices, Court confirms

03/01/2014 Steve WoodsMedia, Politics, Tech

In a case brought by civil liberties campaigners, a Brooklyn court has ruled that US Customs officers do not need to suspect a crime to examine travellers’ computer equipment at borders, Le Monde Informatique reported yesterday.

In the United States the border police may carry out checks of travellers’ portable computers and other mobile devices without having to justify suspicions that the content they wish to examine is connected with criminal action, an American federal judge concluded last week at the end of a case brought in 2010 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU believed such behaviour infringed the US constitution. However, Judge Edward Korman of the Brooklyn District Court did not share this opinion and rejected the case. The ACLU is contemplating an appeal.

The ACLU submitted the complaint on behalf of Pascal Abidor, a student with dual French and American nationality and two other associations, one which defends lawyers and the other press photographers. In 2010, Customs officers confiscated Mr. Abidor’s portable computer as he was entering the United States aboard a Montreal (Canada) to New York train as he was entering the USA. Mr. Abidor was studying the history of the Shi’ites in Lebanon and had downloaded photographs linked to the militant organisations Hamas and Hezbollah onto his computer. He was detained for several hours while his computer equipment was examined before being released with no further action being taken. He had disclosed his password and the officers searched through his private data, including messages he’d exchanged with his girlfriend. Some information was retained for the purpose of further inquiries after he had handed over his equipment.

For lawyers and journalists whose work entails maintaining keeping the data they hold confidential, such investigations by customs form a real problem and the lawsuit aimed to highlight the violation that Abidor’s treatment represented. However, Judge Korman asserted that Customs already had special procedures for examining this content which required suspicions of crime. Furthermore, he stated that searches of this kind are rare at borders and are already made within the scope of these procedures. In summary he states in his ruling, published by the ACLU, that giving reasons would not be appropriate because it is highly unlikely that one of the members of the plaintiff organisations had been subject to an examination of their electronic equipment at borders since, according to the judge, there is little chance that such a search would take place without reasonable suspicion. In view of the figures submitted by US Customs and Border Protection, Judge Korman believes there is a less than one in a million chance that a computer carried by a foreign traveller entering the USA would be confiscated.
Confusion in Castle Park

02/01/2014 Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

So far winter in Bristol has been not like winter at all; it’s been mostly mild and rather wet.

As a result some of the local trees – like this cherry in Castle Park (picture taken this morning. Ed.) – are somewhat confused and believe it’s spring already, judging by the display of blossom.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now is hung with bloom along the bough… (A.E. Housman)

However, where Castle Park is concerned, it’s not just its cherry trees that are confused. Its custodians – Bristol City Council – are confused too.

According to the council’s Central Area Action Plan (CAAP) the western end of Castle Park is a prime development opportunity and has been earmarked for covering in concrete at a time when the city has enough empty shops, offices and other commercial space to cope with another recession besides the one that is allegedly now at an end.

This act of municipal largesse to developers comes in spite of the fact that over 95% of CAAP consultation responses relating to Castle Park were against any development that would mean building on the park and that it’s only some 5 or 6 years since the council encountered firm opposition from Bristolians the last time it proposed developing this bit of Castle Park.

Once again, there’s a petition against the development of Castle Park. Its preamble reads as follows:

As a resident of Bristol, I am dismayed at and object to the proposals in the current Bristol Central Area Plan to build on green space and to cut down some 40 mature trees in the St Mary le Port area of Castle Park and in the High St and Wine St which border it.

Whilst the old disused buildings there are indeed in need of refurbishment and bringing into use, I do not accept that to do so it is necessary to build on any of the existing green space surrounding the buildings or to cut down the trees, which is what the proposals would mean.

Further, this is hardly in line with Bristol being the European Green Capital in 2015.

Sign the petition.

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