Translation and Interpretation Services

The request was successful.

Dear Norfolk County Council,

I would like to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

1. What is the breakdown/number of all translation and interpretation services per language including spend per annum for your organisation (for the last 3 financial years).

2. Do you currently offer a translation and/or interpreting service (inhouse)? If not, who is your current supplier for language services?

If yes
a. who is the person/service responsible for interpreting and translation services within your organisation? Please provide contact details and job title.
b. what system do you use to deliver this service?
c. do you provide your services in-house (throughout the organisation?)
d. do you provide services external to the organisation?
e. How much do you charge for your services?

3. If you do offer an inhouse service, do you offer:

- face to face interpreting services (including BSL)
- telephone interpreting services
- written translation services

4. Do you use in-house casual interpreters/translations to deliver the service?

5. Do you use in-house permanent/fixed term interpreters/translators to deliver the service?

6. Do you use language providers to deliver the service?

Thanks,

Yours faithfully

Tia Corkish

Information Management, Norfolk County Council

Good Afternoon,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Information Request ENQ-123123-R5B4C5

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 received on 23 November 2017.

Lewis Freeman will be dealing with your request.
 
We have up to 20 days in which to deal with your request. If we require clarification regarding your request, we will contact you to explain this. The 20 working day period will then start from the day that we receive your clarification.
 
You will also be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of the information.

Please also be aware that, if the requested information contains references to any third parties, we may need to consult these individuals about the release of their personal data before making a decision whether or not to release the information to you.

We will also provide an explanation if any information is not released to you.

Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the team by email [email address] or by telephone 01603 222661.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Cooper
Business Support Assistant (Compliance Team)
Information Management and Technology
County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DH

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Information Management, Norfolk County Council

Dear Tia

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 –Information Request ENQ-123123-R5B4C5

 

I refer to your request for information dated 23 November 2017.

 

1.    What is the breakdown/number of all translation and interpretation
services per language including spend per annum for your organisation (for
the last 3 financial years).

 

In respect of question 1, your request has been considered and is refused.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), this
letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

 

Exemption

 

Section 43(2) provides exemption to disclosure if its disclosure would, or
would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person
(including the public authority holding it).

 

Reason why the exemption applies

 

The exemption applies for the following reasons:

 

The release of information by INTRAN as requested would prejudice the
commercial interests of the suppliers who may submit tenders in the future
for similar work.

 

Public Interest Test Reasons

 

The Council has considered whether the public interest is maintaining this
exemption is outweighed by the public interest in disclosure.

 

This Council has considered the following reasons in favour of disclosure:

o Promoting accountability and transparency by public authorities for
decisions taken by them.
o Promoting accountability and transparency in the spending of public
money.

 

Balanced against this are the following reasons against disclosure:

·         There is a public interest in ensuring that companies are able
to compete fairly, in an open market along with being able to trade
competitively.

·         Companies may be discouraged from participating in the scheme if
they felt it could result in the disclosure of information relating to
their general business as releasing this information could give their
competitors an unfair advantage.

Norfolk County Council has a duty to achieve best value in procuring
services for the people of Norfolk by procuring the right level of service
for the best possible price.  This could be prevented by releasing this
information

 

However, we are able to provide the following information which provides
overall spends for each of the three years as well as the top languages
requested for each year.

 

Year Spend
16/17 £  311,439.45
15/16 £  263,372.56
14/15 £  303,612.38

 

Top ten languages per year

 

16/17

LITHUANIAN
PORTUGUESE
POLISH
RUSSIAN
ARABIC
LATVIAN
HUNGARIAN
KURDISH -
SORANI
BENGALI-SYLHETI
BSL

 

15/16

Lithuanian
Portuguese
Polish
Russian
BSL
Hungarian
Mandarin
Romanian
Latvian
Kurdish -
Sorani

 

14/15

Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Hungarian
Kurdish -
Sorani
BSL
Mandarin
French
Bengali

 

2. Do you currently offer a translation and/or interpreting service
(inhouse)? If not, who is your current supplier for language services?

 

If yes

a. who is the person/service responsible for interpreting and translation
services within your organisation? Please provide contact details and job
title.

b. what system do you use to deliver this service?

c. do you provide your services in-house (throughout the organisation?) d.
do you provide services external to the organisation?

e. How much do you charge for your services?

 

3. If you do offer an inhouse service, do you offer:

 

- face to face interpreting services (including BSL)

- telephone interpreting services

- written translation services

 

4. Do you use in-house casual interpreters/translations to deliver the
service?

 

5. Do you use in-house permanent/fixed term interpreters/translators to
deliver the service?

 

6. Do you use language providers to deliver the service?

 

Norfolk County Council does not have an in-house translation. Translation
services are provided through INTRAN. INTRAN is hosted by Norfolk County
Council, but they commission these services on behalf of their partners.
Therefore, questions 2 to 6 are not applicable.

 

If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the
right of appeal through the Council’s internal review procedure by setting
out the grounds of your appeal in writing to:

 

[1][email address]

or Information Compliance Team

Room B18

County Hall

Martineau Lane

Norwich

NR1 2DH

 

An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this
notice and should be identified as "FOI Appeal".

 

If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Act for a
decision whether your request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Act.  Refer to the ICO
Website at: [2]https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for advice on how to report a
concern.  Or you can write to them at:

 

First Contact Team

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Lewis Freeman

Information Compliance Officer

Information Management Service

Norfolk County Council

County Hall

Martineau Lane

Norwich

NR1 2DH

 

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