28th March 2014
£1m of taxpayer's money spent on
foreign language interpreters by Dorset Police and the CPS
MORE
than one million pounds of taxpayers’ money has been spent on foreign language
interpreters in Dorset by police and the CPS in just five years.
From
defendants, prosecution witnesses to victim support, the cost of translation in
the county can now be revealed by the Echo.
Figures
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that more than half of this
huge amount was spent in between 2008 and 2011.
The
Echo has been told that high but declining costs fall in line with the changes
in the way interpreters are hired by police and the CPS as well as the
expansion of the European Union and waves of immigration into the county, in
those years.
Dorset
Police’s highest spend in the past five years was £224,696.35 in 2009/10, while
the CPS spent the most in 2010/11 – at £16,987.
Translation
costs have declined in the past two years, totalling £76,290.28 for Dorset
Police in 2013/14 so far and just £9,741 by the CPS in 2012/13.
The
most requested interpreters to help defendants, witnesses and victims were for
Polish translation.
Translation
costs also includes interpreting legal documents.
It
is not only visitors from overseas who get help.
Huge
sums are also paid to provide translation for long-term residents.
Among
the criminals who have used the service is killer Danilo Restivo originally
from Italy, who is serving a 40-year minimum life sentence for the murder of
Dorset mum Heather Barnett in 2002.
A
spokesman for Dorset Police said that this case demonstrated that the cost was
dependent on case and crime.
In
2011, the Ministry of Justice outsourced interpretation work to private firm
Applied Language Solutions (ALS) in a bid to save £18m a year.
ALS
was sold to Capita, an outsourcing and recruitment company, before the contract
began, and is now run as Capita Translation and Interpreting.
Dorset
Police has contracts with LanguageLine Solutions and Deafinite (British Sign Language)
concerning interpreters and translation work.
But
those behind The Professional Interpreters for Justice campaign are calling for
change.
One
of the campaign’s three aims is to bring back the direct employment of
freelance interpreters by the courts and police services.
The
Dorset Police spokesman said: “The cost of interpreters is case and crime
dependant- if, for example, it is a murder trial like that of Heather Barnett
it could run on for years.
She
added: “The regional contract which Dorset Police is involved with has seen a decrease
in translation costs.”
The
Race Relations Act simply says that all parts of the community should have
access to services.
The
Human Rights Act only requires translation if someone is arrested or charged
with a criminal offence.
What
they spent
Figures
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the amount spent on
foreign language interpreter and translation costs for each financial year over
the past five years.
Dorset
Police
2008/2009
£201,759.58
2009/10
£224,696.35
2010/11
£206,476.54
2011/12
£185,103.66
2012/13
£107,494.42
2013/14
£76,290.38
Overall
total for police spend: £1,001,820.93
The
Crown Prosecution Service
2008/2009
£14,168
2009/10
£11,765
2010/11
£16,987
2011/12
£10,542
2012/13
£9,741
Overall
total for Crown Prosecution Service spend is £63,203
Overall
spend: £1,065,023.93
‘Lamentable’
state of our police and courts
“It
is a lamentable situation that the courts and police find themselves in,” says
the chief executive of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.
Paul
Wilson spoke about his concerns following on from the Ministry of Justice
outsourcing interpretation work in 2011.
He
said that since this move many ‘good people have left the industry due to the
derisory pay and conditions’.
He
said: “It is a lamentable situation that the courts and police find themselves
in.
“Good
advice and information was ignored by the government procurement service when
the contract was provided to a single supplier and that since outsourcing many good
people have left the industry due to the derisory pay and conditions.
“The
public ultimately suffer through poor cost control which can compromise the
justice system overall.”
Although
Dorset Police is part of a south west regional contract, Mr Wilson added: “Some
police forces are included and some not.
“Those
that are not are still using the old system or have developed their own – this
is just another crazy outcome of the outsourcing framework agreement and lack
of consultation at the outset.
“It
is good that the police forces have resisted the government pressure to fall
into line however the situation is not necessarily ideal and The Professional
Interpreters for Justice campaign is working towards what that might be.”
TaxPayers'
Alliance blasts waste of money
Robert
Oxley, campaign director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “It is ludicrous
that such a huge amount of money should be wasted on interpreters and
translation costs.
“The
CPS will occasionally need to engage interpreters for visitors needing help in
the UK but the amount spent on interpreters suggest that regular residents may
be asking for translations services as well.
“Those
living in the UK but needing translation are placing an extra burden on
taxpayers.
“Cutting
the amount spent on translation is an easy way of cutting waste without
affecting front-line services."
‘Interpreters
also saving public funds’
A
former Dorset Police interpreter says it is ‘unreasonable’ to consider these
high translation and interpreter costs alone.
Svetlana
Savrasova, of Weymouth, who worked to translate Polish and Russian for the
county’s force, told the Echo that there is more behind the figures.
She
is urging people to consider the money that interpreters save the taxpayer
through their work and also to consider the benefits brought in by those who
have moved here from other countries in terms of employment and
multi-culturalism.
She
says patterns in the figures, whereby the cost is much higher between 2008 and
2011, correlate with the expansion of the EU and waves of Polish immigration to
the UK.
She
told the Echo: “If you look at these figures alone it is unreasonable.
“Interpreters
are assisting in an understanding people who have come into a new country and
are settling into a new culture and getting used to the laws such as driving
regulations which may be different to their own country.
“When
I worked for Dorset Police all interpreters were freelance and paid £30 an hour
for a minimum of three hours.
“For
the first five years that I worked I earned £600 a year because there wasn’t a
need for Russian or Polish translation.
“When
more immigrants appeared, which you can see in these figures, we were dealing
with a lot of small crimes which occurred due to cultural difference like
driving offences.
“They
are not people who normally broke the law but had moved to a new country.
“At
my best time I was earning £40,000 a year before tax and expenses but this was
when more the Polish immigration wave hit the UK five years ago and these
people were settling into the country.
“If
I had a job now I would earn around half of this because those who moved here
in the immigration wave have either settled into the culture with their
children going to the local schools and acting as their translators – or they
have gone back to their countries.”
The
Russian-born 53-year-old said: “It is well and good to look at the overall cost
of translation but it is also important to consider the money that interpreters
save by communicating between prisoners, victims and those accused – and making
it so they can be understand and potentially prevent further long to term costs
or even going to prison – which costs the taxpayer £80 a day.”
She
added: “What struck me most about my former job was the lack of support for
interpreters – I dealt with a murder case and I needed psychological support
after that – it cost me £35 a week.
“We
deal with the evilness of police work and were not supported.”
The
former interpreter was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer four years
ago. She said: “Polish people are the most hardworking people – so instead of
looking at the cost of interpretation in the police or the CPS we should
consider the benefits they have brought to this country such as hard work.
“Many
Dorset companies would go under without them, they work the longest hours and
weekends for the same rates. You will always find they are the last to leave
the factory floor.”
CPS:
Costs of translation necessary in giving evidence
The
costs of translation are necessary to ‘allow victims and witnesses the best
opportunity to give their evidence’, according to the CPS.
A
CPS spokesperson said: “The CPS spent £63,203 over a period of five years for
the use of translation cost or foreign language interpreters.
“The
CPS requires the uses of language interpreters for victims and prosecution
witnesses only when they give evidence at court hearings.
“We
need to be able to allow the victims and witnesses the best opportunity.”
