News

Public Service Interpreters may work in a variety of settings on a daily basis, moving between locations regularly and therefore carrying a high risk of coronavirus exposure, as they have to move between settings from one booking to another.

For this reason we would like to see the inclusion of public service interpreters in the COVID-19 Vaccination Priority Groups alongside police, teachers and other frontline
public service workers.

The Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) has chosen former BBC Moscow correspondent Bridget Kendall MBE as the latest recipient of the David Crystal Award, originally donated by the eponymous linguist, a vice-president and Fellow of CIOL.

The British Academy, together with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Australian Academy of the Humanities, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and The Royal Society of Canada, has just published The Importance of Languages in Global Context: An International Call to Action.

CIOL Vice President Baroness Jean Coussins has asked Government whether they have provided guidance to GP practices about the responsibility to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to public service interpreters who are needed for face-to-face patient appointments.

The webpage for police language services has been launched, providing information relating to the use of interpreters for police assignments as well as contact details. Click here to read.

CIOL welcomes frameworks which recognise the professional status of public service interpreters. We believe their professionalism should always be at the forefront of the selection and delivery of public service language services.

CIOL is pleased to announce that we are now providing our members with a broader programme of CPD and training. As part of this review of our CPD activity, we are making the majority of video recordings from the eCPD Webinars platform available free of charge to CIOL members.

CIOL announces the launch of a new partnership scheme to bring businesses and large corporations in closer collaboration.

Organisations that become a CIOL partner agree to follow these values which represent a starting point for continually improving the standing of qualified linguists:

The Queen’s speech today outlined Boris Johnson’s agenda for the new session of parliament.

In a key element of the speech, the Queen says her government will “work to promote and expand the United Kingdom’s influence in the world”, starting with a review into security, defence and foreign policy “covering all aspects of international policy from defence to diplomacy and development”.

CIOL responds to this by strongly urging the government to put languages and education at the forefront of any such review.