Outsourcing giant Capita says it has put behind it the problems experienced by court interpreter agency Applied Language Solutions (ALS).

ALS, which was acquired by Capita in January, was heavily criticised by MPs last week in a report the Public Accounts Committee for a series of failures which caused “total chaos” in the justice system, including delayed, postponed and abandoned trials caused by ALS’s inability to supply interpreters in the numbers needed.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was also lambasted for failing to carry out due diligence before awarding the £42m contract, which was awarded to ALS in August 2011.

The framework agreement covered the provision of interpreters to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and its partners, including Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majesty’s Prison Service and police forces across England and Wales

Among the criticisms made by the MPs were that ALS could only supply 280 of the 1,200 interpreters required.

The report says that Capita, which paid £7.5m for ALS, “had no hope of recruiting enough qualified interpreters in time to start the service.”

The MPs also described the £2,200 fine handed out to ALS for its failure to deliver as “risible”.

The MP’s indictment of ALS follows reports in March that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had encountered “unacceptable” problems with the company.

A spokesperson for Capita tells Recruiter that the situation has improved, and that the ALS now has 1,167 court interpreters available on its books.

The spokesperson continues: “The acquisition of ALS, by Capita, has helped to enhance and strengthen the delivery of its service, with over 95% of booking requests now fulfilled, compared to 65% in the first month of the contract. This performance is continuing to improve.

“We acknowledge that, as with the old system, there have been challenges but we are determined to get the service running at full efficiency, providing transparency of opportunity for linguists and fully supporting the MoJ, police and court service.”