Translation and Interpreting Services

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.033268

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Please confirm your overall spending on Translation and Interpreting Services, for each of the financial years:
a. 2020-2021:
b. 2022-2023:

2. Please provide a breakdown of languages for the last 12 months

3. What languages were your suppliers not able to supply in 2022?

4. Which external supplier(s) do you currently use to deliver your interpreting and translation services ?

5. Are you able to provide approximate fee / interpreting session for:
a. In-person/face to face interpreting
b. Telephone interpreting
c. Video interpreting

6. If you outsource the provision of interpreting services to an external provider, could you please confirm:
a) Whether the provider was contracted via a national framework? If so, which one?
b) When does the current contract expire?
c) Is there is an exclusivity clause, which would prevent you from piloting new cost saving interpreting services during the duration of your contract with your existing provider?

7. From which budget within your organisation are interpreting services funded?

8. Where do you advertise your tenders? If you do not do a full tender / which frameworks would you use?

9. What is the start and end date for either the framework or direct contracts you have with interpreting and translation supplier(s)?

10. Please provide the name and email of the contract manager for the service

11. If we would like to engage in conversation with a member of staff in your organisation to discuss the innovation we propose to develop, who would be the most suitable person to approach?

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 31(1)(a) – Law Enforcement
Section 40(2)(3) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

You have requested information in relation to the name of the contract manager including the email address, this information is exempt from disclosure as it is considered personal information. In addition, the email address is also exempt from disclosure and I will explain this further below.

Section 31(1)(a) – Law Enforcement - of the Act provides that any information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

I have claimed this exemption in that the release of the contact details of a specific individual, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour.

The release and publication of the email address of this individual, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of this individual, with information that would assist them to do so. In this regard, a person with this intent would be likely to use this information to make inappropriate contact or send them vast amounts of unsolicited correspondence/emails. This would tie up the resources of this individual and cause disruption to the work of the MPS.

Having considered your request, I accept that there is a public interest in transparency when any request is made for police information. The public interest favouring release must be balanced against any associated risk and/or prejudice that would be caused by disclosure. Having carefully considered this, I have found that the public release and publication of contact details of this individual, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour. Given this I have found that the release of this information is not in the public interest.

Section 40(2)(3)(a)(b) Personal Information - of the Act provides that any information to which a request for information relates, is exempt information if the first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied. The first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) states that personal information is exempt if its disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. If the disclosure of the requested personal data would not contravene the data protection principles, the disclosure must also not contravene Sections 3A(b) and 3B of the Act.

There are six principles that are set out in Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that dictate when the processing of personal data is lawful. The first principle requires that any processing of personal data must be lawful, fair and transparent. Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:

a. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
b. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
c. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.

The named individual, does not hold a role where they would reasonably expect their names to be published in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. I have not therefore identified a legitimate interest that would be satisfied in disclosing their personal data in response to this request for information.

Disclosure

Q1 - Please confirm your overall spending on Translation and Interpreting Services, for each of the financial years:
a. 2020-2021:

A - £5,508,177.98

b. 2022-2023:

B - £6,441,216.43

Q2 - Please provide a breakdown of languages for the last 12 months

Please see the attached.

Q3 - What languages were your suppliers not able to supply in 2022?

The MPS do not use suppliers, the MPS are their own linguist suppliers.

Q4 - Which external supplier(s) do you currently use to deliver your interpreting and translation services?

As above, however we do use other agencies for some ad hoc requests.

Q5 - Are you able to provide approximate fee / interpreting session for:
a. In-person/face to face interpreting

A - £34.26 p/h

b. Telephone interpreting

B - Rounded to nearest 15 minutes, Day £8.57/Night Saturday £12.84/Sunday B/H £17.13.

c. Video interpreting

C - £34.26 p/h

Q6 - If you outsource the provision of interpreting services to an external provider, could you please confirm:
a) Whether the provider was contracted via a national framework? If so, which one?

A – Yes. Leicestershire Police Service.

b) When does the current contract expire?

B – The current contract will end on the 31 August 2025.

c) Is there is an exclusivity clause, which would prevent you from piloting new cost saving interpreting services during the duration of your contract with your existing provider?

C – No.

Q7 - From which budget within your organisation are interpreting services funded?

From the Language & Cultures Services budget.

Q8 - Where do you advertise your tenders? If you do not do a full tender / which frameworks would you use?

The MPS advertise on Find a Tender Service and Contracts finder. This can vary as it could depend what is available but if Leicestershire Police are renewing their Framework there is a high possibility that the MPS will use that.

Q9 - What is the start and end date for either the framework or direct contracts you have with interpreting and translation supplier(s)?

The contract started on the 1 September 2021 and the end date is the 31 August 2024, with a 12 month extension. The Framework went live in 2020 and is for 7 years, it will end August 2027.

Q10 - Please provide the name and email of the contract manager for the service

This is exempt as per the above reasons.

Q11 - If we would like to engage in conversation with a member of staff in your organisation to discuss the innovation we propose to develop, who would be the most suitable person to approach?

You can contact the email address below for further assistance: [email protected]