Mr Townsley's comments raise questions
Mr Townsley's comments raise a few questions. He says he did some consultancy work for ALS in January 2011. Is it also not the case that he was involved in running courses for them in 2008? As far as I know, in January 2011 Mr Townsley was still chair of the NRPSI. At that stage it was already obvious from the North West contract that ALS paid interpreters peanuts and also used unqualified ones. This was common knowledge amongst the profession at the time.
I would like Mr Townsley to tell us whether he thinks it was appropriate for a Chair of NRPSI to get involved with an agency that has been treating professional interpreters with such disrespect. Did he not feel that as Chair of the NRPSI, it was his duty to promote standards in the profession, which is something ALS has clearly failed to do? Did he not think that the appalling reduction in interpreters' pay would drive many NRPSIs, like me, out of the profession? Interpreting is no longer viable for me and I am doing other things. I loved the job though and I keep asking myself if ALS's proposal had been so appealing to the MOJ without the participation of Mr Townsley and Middlesex University. From what I can remember, this was a big selling point.
