Language Services
Case reference FOI2024/00417
Published 11 March 2024
Request
Under Freedom of Information Act 2000, please can you provide the following information regarding language services.
1. Please confirm your overall spend on interpreting, translation and transcription services for the following financial years: * 2021-22 * 2022-23
2. Who is your incumbent supplier(s) for language services? If you have more than one supplier, which services does each one provide to you?
3. If you have a separate British Sign Language/non-spoken supplier, who is this?
4. If you have a separate transcription supplier, who is this?
5. Do you have any in-house interpreters/translators?
6. When is your current language services contract(s) due to expire, a) without extensions and b) with all possible extensions?
7. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the contract manager responsible for language services?
8. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for your language services budget?
9. Could you please provide the following data for 2023: * Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (spoken language) and hours completed * Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (non-spoken language) and hours completed * Total number of telephone interpreting calls and minutes completed * Total number of video interpreting calls (spoken language) and minutes completed * Total number of video interpreting calls (non-spoken language) and minutes completed * Total number of document translations and words translated * Total number of audio transcriptions and total audio duration
10. What were your top 20 highest-volume languages for interpreting/translation requests in 2023?
11. Can you please provide the fill rate % you received for the following services in 2023: * Face-to-face interpreting * Telephone interpreting * Video interpreting * Document translation * Audio transcription
12. What languages has your provider been unable to source in the last 12 months?
13. Have service credits been applied on your language services contract in the last 12 months? If so, what performance failure was this linked to?
14. What social value has been delivered as part of this contract in the last 12 months?
15. If your contract was awarded through a tender process, can you please provide a copy of the winning bidder's tender?
16. What are your contracted rates for each of the following services? * Spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate * Non-spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate * Telephone interpreting: per minute rate * Spoken video interpreting: per minute rate * Non-spoken video interpreting: * Document translation: per word rate * Audio transcription: per audio minute rate
17. Has your provider of language services increased their charge rate to you in the last 12 months?
18. What is the Authority's typical route to market?
19. Does the Authority currently have any interpreter on wheel devices as part of their current contract? If yes please advise how many and if these are provided free of charge or paid for by the Authority.
20. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for the language services budget?
21. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person in charge of procurement for the Authority? Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Response
1. Please confirm your overall spend on interpreting, translation and transcription services for the following financial years:
* 2021-22
* 2022-23
A: This information is publically available on Herefordshire Council's and can be viewed via the following link:
Herefordshire Language network statistics 2023
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
2. Who is your incumbent supplier(s) for language services? If you have more than one supplier, which services does each one provide to you?
A: We have an in-house department to provide language services.
3. If you have a separate British Sign Language/non-spoken supplier, who is this?
A: N/A
4. If you have a separate transcription supplier, who is this?
A: There is no preferred supplier.
5. Do you have any in-house interpreters/translators?
A: No, our interpreters/translators are freelance.
6. When is your current language services contract(s) due to expire, a) without extensions and b) with all possible extensions?
A: N/A
7. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the contract manager responsible for language services?
A: Harriet Yellin, 01432 260216, hyellin@herefordshire.gov.uk
8. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for your language services budget?
A: Individual service managers are responsible for their own budgets.
9. Could you please provide the following data for 2023:
* Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (spoken language) and hours completed
A: Details can be found at Herefordshire Language network statistics 2023. We do not record the number of hours completed - you could estimate 1 hour/booking.
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
* Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (non-spoken language) and hours completed
A: 3 BSL bookings. We do not record the number of hours completed.
* Total number of telephone interpreting calls and minutes completed
A: Details can be found at Herefordshire Language network statistics 2023. We do not record the number of minutes completed, or distinguish between phone interpreting and video interpreting in our reporting.
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
* Total number of video interpreting calls (spoken language) and minutes completed
A: Details can be found at Herefordshire Language network statistics 2023. We do not record the number of minutes completed, or distinguish between phone interpreting and video interpreting in our reporting.
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
* Total number of video interpreting calls (non-spoken language) and minutes completed
A: 0
* Total number of document translations and words translated
A: Details can be found at Herefordshire Language network statistics 2023. We do not record the number of words translated.
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
* Total number of audio transcriptions and total audio duration
A: N/A
10. What were your top 20 highest-volume languages for interpreting/translation requests in 2023?
A: A: Details can be found at Herefordshire Language network statistics 2023.
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
11. Can you please provide the fill rate % you received for the following services in 2023:
* Face-to-face interpreting
* Telephone interpreting
* Video interpreting
A: Estimate 98-99%: our reporting does not distinguish between bookings made for council services, and bookings made for other organisations, so the service area cannot give an exact figure. The majority of any failures to fill requests will be for face-to-face.
* Document translation
A: 100%
* Audio transcription
A: N/A
12. What languages has your provider been unable to source in the last 12 months?
A:
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Bengali
BSL
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Croatian
Czech
Dari
Estonian
Farsi
Hungarian
Italian
Kiswahili
Kurdish
Kurmanji
Liberian Creole
Lithuanian
Malayalam
Mandarin
Nepali
Pashto
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Russian
Slovak
Somali
Tagalog
Tamil
Thai
Tigrinya
Turkish
Ukrainian
Uzbek
Vietnamese
13. Have service credits been applied on your language services contract in the last 12 months? If so, what performance failure was this linked to?
A: N/A
14. What social value has been delivered as part of this contract in the last 12 months?
A:
Creating employment and training opportunities for local residents to fulfil their potential
Reducing travel by using local interpreters
Providing work to local people to increase their financial independence and mental wellbeing
15. If your contract was awarded through a tender process, can you please provide a copy of the winning bidder's tender?
A: N/A
16. What are your contracted rates for each of the following services?
* Spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate
* Non-spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate
* Telephone interpreting: per minute rate
* Spoken video interpreting: per minute rate
* Non-spoken video interpreting:
* Document translation: per word rate
* Audio transcription: per audio minute rate
A: There are no fixed contracted rates. Generally, our local interpreters charge £20/hour for face-to-face, video and telephone interpreting, however a few charge £25 or £30/hour. The NRPSI interpreters we work with usually charge £30/hour for face-to-face, video and telephone interpreting, but some rare language interpreters charge more.
BSL interpreters generally charge £90 or £120 minimum.
Document translation varies from 6.8p to around 13p/English word, depending on language and individual translator rates.
17. Has your provider of language services increased their charge rate to you in the last 12 months?
A: N/A
18. What is the Authority's typical route to market?
A: Competitive tendering. Herefordshire Council uses the Procontract e-Tendering portal to issue tender opportunities but it may also consider using suitable framework providers for example Crown Commercial Services, ESPO or others.
19. Does the Authority currently have any interpreter on wheel devices as part of their current contract? If yes please advise how many and if these are provided free of charge or paid for by the Authority.
A: N/A
20. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for the language services budget?
A: Individual service managers are responsible for their own budgets.
21. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person in charge of procurement for the Authority?
A: Mrs Carrie Christopher, Commercial Services Manager, 01432 383565 carrie.christopher@herefordshire.gov.uk
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Documents
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