South Lanarkshire councillors have raised concerns after sign language interpreters did not receive timely breaks at a full council meeting.
At the meeting on Wednesday, councillors expressed concerns over the breaks given to the sign language interpreters who were present.
At the meeting, which lasted just over four hours, Provost Margaret Cooper issued breaks, however numerous councillors pointed out that no break had been given in over an hour which goes against protocols. This was eventually addressed and a break was given.
The protocol for meetings with sign language interpreters is to have a break after an hour of the meeting.
The lack of breaks was first pointed out by Councillor Janine Calikes (Rutherglen Central and North), who said: “I think we need to have a better way of notifying that interpreters need breaks because we’re putting in the chat and they’re not receiving their breaks.”
In response, the Provost stated that she tried to issue breaks accordingly and had hoped the meeting would soon end.
She said: “I’ve tried to take account of breaks as best I can, the meeting has been lengthy, I’m hoping that we’re going to resolve that by coming to a conclusion in the next five or ten minutes of the meeting, so I don’t propose to take a further break at this particular time.”
Councillor Gladys Ferguson-Miller (East Kilbride East), agreed with Councillor Calikes, and said: “Just to echo what Janine was saying, there’s a number of hands up and I think it’s easy for someone who’s not interpreting to say ‘we’ll let it go, we’re nearly finished’, I don’t think that’s fair to interpreters.
"We said that after an hour we would take a break. And if anyone has interpreted for an hour you’ll know how exhausting it is.”
The Provost then stated that there had been a break within the last hour. She said: “The last break we had was for 15 minutes and we resumed the meeting at 1.15pm, so we’ve been working for a further 45 minutes. We haven’t been working a further hour. It would be my intention if the meeting goes beyond that we could have another break.”
Councillor Ross Clark (Larkhall) also pointed out issues with the meeting, saying said “I think we should ask the interpreters if they want a break rather than just assume that they don’t need a break. I think that should be a theme going forward rather than just assuming because I don’t think it’s worked terribly well so far in this meeting.”
The Provost replied: “I’m sorry I don’t agree with you and we have not been operating for a further hour, the agreement is that in principle after an hour we will have a five-minute break.”
It was then pointed out by Councillor Calikes that the meeting had been going on for over an hour, she said: “We came back at 12.47pm so it’s been well over an hour.”
The Provost then realised that it had been over an hour and a five-minute break was then given to allow interpreters and councillors to have a rest before finishing the meeting.
Chief xxecutive Cleland Sneddon said: “As part of our concerted efforts to ensure full accessibility for all elected members, we provided two sign language interpreters for Wednesday’s meeting of the full council.
"They were able to work together to interpret proceedings, with one interpreting and the other taking a break in regular short spells. In addition, we have an agreement that there will be a short break for everyone involved, usually of five minutes, after approximately each hour of proceedings.
“These breaks will not necessarily be exactly on the hour but will be called at natural breaks in discussions. For example, the first break on Wednesday took place after 63 minutes.
“Towards the end of Wednesday’s meeting some members asked the Provost if another break was due and she suggested an hour had not yet passed since the previous break. When she realised that the break was, in fact, overdue she immediately called for a break. When the meeting then reconvened after that final break it lasted a further eight minutes.”
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