Interpreter Availability
Al-Sweady Inquiry · The Report of the Al-Sweady Inquiry · Issued 17 December 2014 · Addressed to: Ministry of Defence
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
There should be an appropriate review of all current, relevant policy and procedures to ensure that a sufficient number of suitably trained interpreters are readily available and on hand during all aspects of prisoner detainee handling, including all forms of interrogation and questioning, during the issuing and provision of medication, the need to ensure that basic requests for water/food/lavatory breaks are properly understood in Prisoner Holding Areas and to give safety briefings and to help deal with any problems prior to and/or during flight transfers.
Al-Sweady Inquiry, The Report of the Al-Sweady Inquiry · 17 Dec 2014 Source PDF →
Response — verbatim from government
●Ministry of Defence
Sir Thayne Forbes has made just nine recommendations, and he acknowledges the progress that the Ministry has made since 2004 to improve all aspects of the prisoner-handling system—from policy and doctrine to unit-level instructions and procedures as well as training and oversight—and to ensure it complies with domestic and international law. I accept all nine recommendations in principle. I have commissioned urgent work on their practical implications—in particular, we will need to ensure that they will not prevent the armed forces from carrying out vital tasks—and I will announce to the House my detailed conclusions as soon as I can.
Ministry of Defence · 17 Dec 2014 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.