Translators and Interpreters - Financial cost to Taxpayers

The request was partially successful.

Christopher Banks

Dear Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please provide the following information;

- The total cost to Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council for the hiring of translators and interpreters. This is across all deparments of the council and includes not only those hired for live translation but the translation of literature for publishing.

- The cost is to be broken into financial years with 2017 up to the present date. Since 2010.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Banks

Freedom Of Info, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Christopher Banks,

I acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on 08/01/2018.

This request will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and may take up to 20 working days to be processed (although we will
endeavour to provide the information as quickly as possible).

Please be advised that if an exemption applies to the information that you
have requested, the statutory period may be exceeded in accordance with
the provisions of the act.

Please retain the reference number RFI 000087 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.

Many thanks

The Information Governance Team

                                                     

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http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

Freedom Of Info, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Banks

 

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

        

In response to your request for information received at this office on
8^th January 2018, please see the Council’s response below.

 

You requested

 

- The total cost to Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council for the hiring of
translators and interpreters. This is across all deparments of the council
and includes not only those hired for live translation but the translation
of literature for publishing.

 

- The cost is to be broken into financial years with 2017 up to the
present date. Since 2010.

 

2016/17 = £85,253

2015/16 = £109,512

2014/15 = £99,361

2013/14 = £95,216

2012/13 = Please see below

2011/12 = Please see below

2010/11 = Please see below

 

Please note;

-        The above figures also include British Sign Language (BSL)

-                Bolton Council do not translate any literature for
publishing

 

For the financial years 2010/11 to 2012/13 we estimate that the cost of
supplying the information you seek would exceed the statutory limit of
£450, which is equivalent to 18 hours work and is therefore exempt under
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Prior to 2013/14 information on hiring Translators and Interpreters was
stored by individual services, in a combination of manual and electronic
systems and in a number of different formats. Having analysed our
financial records we have estimated that for 2012/13 alone there are in
excess of 100,000 accounting entries in which a payment for translating or
interpreting could be captured. To provide the information requested would
necessitate examining each of the payments to see if it was made for
translating or interpreting. Following this we would then need to assess
and extract the information and transfer to a spreadsheet ahead of
sharing.

 

It is apparent that the time involved in undertaking this task will exceed
18 hours. 18 hours equates to 64,800 seconds, which when divided by the
possible accounting entries we would have to examine gives us less than 1
second for each entry. It will not be possible to provide the information
requested if we only have this amount of time for each one.

 

Given all of the above, we believe that our estimation of the time needed
is sensible, realistic and based upon specific and known circumstances.

 

Due to the application of section 12 in the response to this question this
constitutes a refusal notice for this part of your request.

 

 

Should you disagree with our decision, you may appeal to:

 

The Borough Solicitor, Bolton Council, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

Email: [1][email address]

 

Should you further disagree with the decision following the appeal you may
wish to contact the Information Commissioner:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

[2]www.ico.gov.uk

Tel: 01625 545700, Fax: 01625 524510

 

Should you have any queries, please contact [3][email address]

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

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