Fife Community Interpreting Service is committed to providing the highest possible standard of service. Its guiding principle is the pursuit of quality, and its management, service delivery and monitoring arrangements contribute much towards the goal of continuous improvement.

FCIS provides interpreting and translation services in 37 languages, has over 107 interpreters on its register, and has been operating for over seven years. During this time, it has demonstrated not only the need for its services, but its own capacity as an organisation to respond to demand through a team of trained and experienced sessional workers who travel across Fife and beyond.

The service has two target markets:-

People who speak little or no English. These individuals are often from minority ethnic communities and face social isolation as a result of communication difficulties and racism.

Service providers from the voluntary, statutory and private sectors. All organisations have responsibilities not to discriminate in service provision and failure to use interpreters where appropriate can be construed by courts and tribunals as discrimination. In addition, all public bodies have a duty to promote racial equality, which means that FCIS' services are often in demand for a wide range of activities.

The need for an interpreting service arose from a study conducted by Fife Regional Council in 1991 entitled 'Racial Equality in Fife'. This research identified the particular isolation which was experienced by minority ethnic communities in the region and concluded that racism was as much of an issue in Fife as elsewhere in Scotland.

Lack of access to interpreting services was found to be a major factor in the barriers which people from minority ethnic communities face in gaining access to a range of essential and often basic services, and to employment. It transpired that many non-English-speaking people knew little or nothing about the functions and procedures of the local authority, health service etc, and were relying on the goodwill of families and friends to help them through difficult situations. One other important finding of the study was that many minority ethnic people had experienced racial harassment, from racist remarks to attacks on the person. It was recognised, perhaps for the first time, that particular groups of people in Fife suffered significant social isolation.

The interpreting and translation facility began its operations, as Fife Community Interpreting Group, from the offices of Fife Racial Equality Council and at that time provided a limited service through a small number of interpreters who were already working in the area on an ad hoc basis. It soon became apparent that there was scope for a much larger project, and Urban Programme funding was successfully applied for in 1993. Fife Community Interpreting Service was constituted formally in 1994, with 75% of costs being met by the Scottish Office and the remaining 25% paid jointly by Fife Regional Council and Kirkcaldy District Council.

The project appointed a full-time staff: an Organiser and an Administrative Assistant. A programme of recruitment was initiated with the aim of identifying individuals fluent in both English and a minority ethnic community language who would be willing to train as interpreters. An extensive programme of training was established early in the life of the project.

Prospective interpreters are invited to come along for an interview so that the Organiser can assess their suitability for interpreting/translation work and outline the activities of the service. Upon registration, interpreters are asked to read carefully and sign the service's Terms & Conditions, and are given written guidance concerning good practice. They are also told about FCIS' Task Allocation Policy, which stipulates that assignments will be offered, wherever possible, to individuals who have participated in the service's interpreter training courses.

The service today is a well-organised body with a dedicated voluntary Management Committee made up largely of members from minority ethnic communities. Between October 1994 and March 2001, FCIS carried out 2,528 individual pieces of work for a range of services. Key users include Fife Council's Education, Housing and Social Work Services; local hospitals, general practitioners and health visitors; Fife Constabulary; the Procurator Fiscal service and private legal firms.

FCIS' Urban Programme funding period ended in December 1998. In spring 1999, the service succeeded in negotiating service level agreements with three of its principal service-users (Fife Council, Fife Constabulary and Fife Primary Care NHS Trust). These agreements are enabling FCIS to continue providing interpreting and translation facilities as required.

From April 2001, the service has employed one part-time Punjabi/Urdu interpreter and one part-time Chinese/Cantonese interpreter, with financial support from the National Lottery Charities Board, for the specific purpose of extending interpreting and translation facilities to voluntary sector and community groups operating within Fife.

Management Committee:
J P Easton (Chair-person)
Marian Larson (Vice Chair-person)
Jimmy Cooper (Treasurer)
Tecla Wight
Mrs Jasmin Gehlen
Aleksandra Antonowicz
Sandra Rimmer
Angela Heyes (co-opted) (Link Officer, NHS Fife)
Ian Bease (Co-opted) (Link Officer, Fife Constabulary)
Sinead O’Donnel (Co-opted) (Link Officer, Fife Council)

Staff:
Mrs Rina Ghosh (Organiser)
Miss Rhona Cameron (Office Assistant)

FCIS is an equal opportunity employer