In a week full of reviews of failed procurement practices within the public sector, the Parliament’s Justice Committee added to the criticism levelled at the Governments lack of outsourcing expertise.

A review into the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) procurement of interpreter services from Applied Language Solutions found that the agreed service did not deliver a working model.

Sir Alan Beith, chairman of the committee, said: “The Ministry of Justice’s handling of the outsourcing of court interpreting services has been nothing short of shambolic”.

The review found that the MoJ had failed to communicate the needs of the court when outsourcing services or listen to industry advice.

Applied Language Solutions, who later became Capita Translation and Interpreting after a takeover, managed to save the contract by being prepared to invest heavily in the service despite the failings in communication.