Joint Capability
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
4-F-35, Main Building
Whitehall, London SW1A 2HB
Telephone: 0207 218 9000
M.
Sykes
Reference:
PW
-
02
-08-2010-120600-005
c/o whatdotheyknow.com
Date:
7
September
2010
Dear Ms Sykes,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – CASE No PW – 02 -08-2010-120600-005
Thank you for your e-mail to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Dated 2 August 2010, which was
considered to be a request for information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act
2000 / Environmental Regulations 2004. As indicated on 31 August, your request was
received by this desk on 31 August. Your request in full read:
As of 1 July 2010, please advise the number of Armed Forces uniformed
translators/interpreters in the following languages:-
1. Dari
2. Pashto
3. Uzbeki
4. Turkmeni
5. Balochi
6. Nuristani
7. Pashai
Serving in Afghanistan.
I can confirm that MOD holds the information you have requested.
Military personnel who have been trained to higher levels of language proficiency provide
trusted translation and consecutive interpreting capability. On 1 July 2010, the following
numbers of uniformed Armed Forces personnel with high level language skills were deployed
in Afghanistan. Skills are deemed current if the qualification is less than 3 years old.
1. Pashto
60
2. Dari
30
3. Uzbeki
0
4. Turkmeni
0
5. Balochi
0
6. Nuristani
0
7. Pashai
0
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 (the Act). Unless specifically permitted by the Act, any reproduction of the
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information, in whole or in part, requires the permission of the copyright holder. Most
documents supplied by the Ministry of Defence will have been produced by government
officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using
Crown Copyright from the Office of Public Sector Information at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-
use/index.htm. Information you receive may also include third party owned information. Such
information must not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without first obtaining the permission
of any such third party rights holder.
If you are unhappy with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the
handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal
resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent
internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 2nd Floor, MOD Main
Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address]). Please note that any request for
an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to
reach informal resolution has come to an end.
If you are still unhappy following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case
until the MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and
powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website,
http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed on original)
C M ADAMSON
JtCap-JW7
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