Chairperson's Report 2003

It is with a great pleasure that I write my first chairperson's report. It has been a significant year for us since we celebrate our tenth anniversary.

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 ethnic minority communities in the region. The study found that the lack of access to interpreting services was a major factor in the barriers which people from ethnic minority communities faced in gaining access to essential and basic services and to employment.

We started our service on 1st of March 1993 as Fife Community Interpreting Group, at the time providing a limited service throughout the Fife region. It soon recognised that a larger project was needed; hence Urban Programme funding was applied for the project. Fife Community Interpreting was constituted formally in 1994; and with this project a full-time staff: an Organiser and Administrative Assistant were appointed.

In early 1999, we secured a Service Level agreement with three of our main service users (Fife Council, Fife Constabulary and Fife Primary Care NHS Trust). Today, these agreements are enabling FCIS to continue providing interpreting and translation throughout the Fife region and these agreements are regularly reviewed accordingly to meet the demand and request.

From April 2001, we successfully gained financial support for three years from the National Lottery Charities Board. This helped us to employ one Punjabi/ Urdu and one Chinese/ Cantonese interpreter.

I am happy to acknowledge that the service has continued to grow remarkably in recent years. The assignments we provided have risen very high over the last couple of years. Since last year, when I was appointed as Chair, the Management Committee dedicated itself to improve our constitutional establishment by meeting the demands of our service users and individuals.

We challenged this firstly by recognising the need for a computerised system both for bookings and staff database. We also have a web page designed which should be up and running by June/ July this year. Due to increase of workload, we are planning to employ more staff in the near future.

As Fife is a multiracial society, FCIS is providing a much needed service to aid equality in gaining access to all services within the Fife as well as neighbouring regions. I personally would like to thank those who were involved during the last ten years within the organisation.

I also would like to thank everyone for their help and hard work in making FCIS the success it is today and hope that I can rely on your support in the coming years. I am sure that this support and commitment will take this service forward in the future.