Urgent Request for Translation and Interpretation Services 2023/2024
Dear Wakefield City Council,
I am writing in hopes of acquiring information to as part of research into LAs spending trends in different sectors. Spending on interpretation and translation services is one of those sectors.
I have already referred to the FOI Act and understand that the information requested below are not exempt from the public domain. As such, under the FOI Act, can we please ask for the following information at your earliest convenience to enable me conclude my project:
In the past 12 months, please confirm
1) The number of written translation requests and how many were met (e.g. January 2023 – 2 requests / 2 met)
2) The number of pre-booked telephone interpretation requests and how many were met?
3) The number of on-demand telephone interpretation requests and how many were met?
4) The number of face-to-face interpretation requests and how many were met?
5) A breakdown of the number of Face to Face Interpreter requests by language (e.g. January 2023: Polish 80 / Romanian 62 / Bulgarian 50 / Urdu 22 etc for each language each moth)
6) What % of Face to Face Interpreter requests were met?
7) How many Interpreters Did Not Attend their appointments?
8) How many end-users did not attend their appointment?
9) How many patients who did not attend appointments needed an interpreter?
10) How many bookings were cancelled by patients last minute?
11) What was the total spending for the year across all interpretation and translation services?
12) Who is the incumbent provider for the Council?
13) When did the current contract come into effect?
Can we please ask that the above information is not exempt from FOI as we are not asking for pricing or business sensitive information but general information that should be made publicly available to identify where the public money is spent.
Yours faithfully,
Cook Keily
Dear Sir/Madam,
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 / ENVIRONMENTAL
INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004
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Yours sincerely
Corporate Information Governance Team,
Legal and Governance
Wakefield Council, Wakefield One, Wakefield WF1 2EB
Email:
[Wakefield City Council request email]
Tel: 01924 306112
Dear Cook Keily,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Thank you for your email requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 which Wakefield Council received on 6 December 2024.
It is our intention to have the response delivered to you no later than 8
January 2025.
I would like to inform you that all requests submitted under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 might be subject to exemption(s), which the
Authority is entitled to apply to refuse the request.
Any future correspondence you may have in relation to this matter should
be marked Private & Confidential and sent to the Senior Information
Governance Officer, Information Management Team, County Hall, Wakefield
WF1 2QW or e-mailed to [1][Wakefield City Council request email].
Please note that all non-essential Wakefield Council services, including
this office, will close on 24 December 2024 and not reopen until 2 January
2025.
Yours sincerely
Senior Information Governance Officer
Corporate Information Governance Team,
Legal and Governance,
Wakefield Council, County Hall, Wakefield WF1 2QW
Email: [2][Wakefield City Council request email]
Tel: 01924 306112
Dear Cook Keily,
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request for Information
I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Please find the response to your request below.
For context, as of November 2024, Wakefield Council has one provider for
our translation and interpretation requirements. Previously, different
providers were used across the Council. There was no standardised
monitoring of these. We thus only hold data for the current contract.
In the past 12 months, please confirm:
1. The number of written translation requests and how many were met (e.g.
January 2023 – 2 requests / 2 met) 13 requests were made. Wakefield
Council does not currently hold information regarding numbers met. Data
will only become available after January 2025, once the first contract
review has taken place.
2) The number of pre-booked telephone interpretation requests and how
many were met? 136 requests were made. Wakefield Council does not
currently hold information regarding numbers met. Data will only become
available after January 2025, once the first contract review has taken
place.
3) The number of on-demand telephone interpretation requests and how
many were met? Wakefield Council does not currently hold this information.
Data will only become available after January 2025, once the first
contract review has taken place.
4) The number of face-to-face interpretation requests and how many
were met? 70 requests were made, with 69 met (November 2024 – to date).
5) A breakdown of the number of Face to Face Interpreter requests by
language (e.g. January 2023: Polish 80 / Romanian 62 / Bulgarian 50 / Urdu
22 etc for each language each moth)
Polish 29
British Sign Language (BSL) 11
Arabic (all or any) 4
Farsi 4
Punjabi 3
Romanian 3
Tamil 3
Arabic Syria 2
Arabic Sudan 1
Turkish 2
Soninke 4
Urdu 1
Kurdish (Sorani) 1
Pashto 1
Czech 1
6) What % of Face to Face Interpreter requests were met? 95.75%
(November 2024 to date).
7) How many Interpreters Did Not Attend their appointments? 1
(November 2024 to date).
8) How many end-users did not attend their appointment? We have
interpreted “end-users” as relating to patients. Wakefield Council does
not currently hold this information. Data will only become available after
January 2025, once the first contract review has taken place.
9) How many patients who did not attend appointments needed an
interpreter? Wakefield Council does not currently hold this information.
Data will only become available after January 2025, once the first
contract review has taken place.
10) How many bookings were cancelled by patients last minute? 5
(November 2024 to date).
11) What was the total spending for the year across all
interpretation and translation services? £297,532 (2023/24 financial
year).
12) Who is the incumbent provider for the Council? Language Empire.
13) When did the current contract come into effect? 4 November 2024
I am sorry that we have not been able to answer all your questions on this
occasion, but hope that the information we have been able to provide is
helpful for your purposes.
Yours sincerely
Senior Information Governance Officer (Information Rights – FOI)
Information Governance Team
Legal and Governance
Wakefield Council
Tel: 01924 306112
E-mail: [1][Wakefield City Council request email]
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