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Language Industry Background: Overview |
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The ethnic face of the United Kingdom is changing; with it the provision of language services in the Public Sector has undergone a transformation.
According to the Accession Monitoring Report May 2004-September 2007, A8 Countries, released under the auspices of the Home Office, a number of immigrants to have joined the UK labour market by registering with the Worker Registration Scheme reached 743,000 and the trend continues. This figure excludes long terms migrants, as well as Asylum Seekers and migrants from other countries, groups that also contribute to demographic changes throughout the UK.
As a consequence, the issues of equality and diversity have become hot topics. Public bodies are obliged to have certain provisions in place. Plethora of statutory requirements that apply to both public and commercial bodies include the Race Relations Act 1976, as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Race Relations Act (Amendment) Regulations 2003, Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and above all Human Rights Act that came into force in 2000 to mention just a few.
The awareness of the communication issues people can face, as well as finding effective ways of remedying this situation and providing appropriate services are now a priority. Creation of such roles as Equality and Diversity Officer and the increasing demand for cultural consultation services are just examples of the effect these recent changes have had on the public sector organisations.
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Position of Language Companies |
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The total government spend is in excess of £400 billion pounds per annum. Increasingly, the buyers depend on the premise of “value for money”, as it has been recognised that the price-reliant procurement policy does not always deliver expected results.
Language services provision constitutes only a small part of the remit of the Public Sector and is inherently a specialist area. It has often been observed that the expertise and knowledge is not prevalent amongst the purchaser of these services.
Numerous companies set up all over the country bring associated benefits of a healthy competition. However, this has inadvertently made the choice even more difficult for an inexperienced in the field buyer of these services.
SLEPS comes into being, as the need for the standard has become more and more apparent. Competitive pricing should never stand in the way of ability to deliver high quality product. With language services often there is no room for compromise on that. Offering accreditations may help prove that the company meets consistent quality standards.
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Why SLEPS? |
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SLEPS is different from any other accreditations currently available to the companies on the market, such is ISO 9001:2000, as well as other language bodies, in that it encompasses further issues specific to language service delivery industry. It will include an overview of company’s:
- Management processes, performance and delivery
- Qualifications and background of Directors
For the Selection Criteria please
The purpose is therefore to select “blue chip” companies that can be trusted to deliver good quality and timely services. The process will involve an on-site visit, as well as other checks to include financial standing, current activities and experience.
This, of course, translates into unprecedented advantages for procurement managers in the public sector, as it takes the hard work of sifting through hundreds of companies out of the process, and directs them straight to the crème de la crème of the language industry providers.
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