PQ: 29th December 2017

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2017-12-19.120475.h

Courts: Interpreters

Ministry of Justice written question – answered on 29th December 2017.

Richard Burgon Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, since the contract out of services to provide interpreters to all courts what the estimated number of unfulfilled or cancelled cases was in each year in (a) England and Wales and (b) each region.

Phillip Lee The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice

We do not collect the relevant data for all jurisdictions and types of hearings in which interpreters are used. However, information on the number of trials listed in the criminal courts which were adjourned (ineffective) due to interpreter availability was published in Criminal Court Statistics until 2016 and is now available at https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/crown-court-information/.

The breakdown for England and Wales is set out below:

	Crown Courts			Magistrates’ Courts
Year	Number of trials	Adjourned due to interpreter availability	% of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability	Number of trials	Adjourned due to interpreter availability	% of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability
2012	38,432	34	0.1%	156,671	608	0.4%
2013	33,669	37	0.1%	155,087	591	0.4%
2014	35,974	26	0.1%	158,984	524	0.3%
2015	39,035	23	0.1%	162,668	474	0.3%
2016	37,339	30	0.1%	149,423	495	0.3%
2017*	25,451	24	0.1%	105,558	319	0.3%

* data to September 2017

This can be further broken down by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service region:

		Crown Courts			Magistrates’ Courts
Year	Region	Number of trials	Adjourned due to interpreter availability	% of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability	Number of trials	Adjourned due to interpreter availability	% of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability
2012	London	10,632	16	0.2%	35,410	270	0.8%
	Midlands	5,425	4	0.1%	26,570	94	0.4%
	North East	5,450	3	0.1%	22,532	59	0.3%
	North West	5,334	3	0.1%	23,909	58	0.2%
	South East	6,654	5	0.1%	26,236	95	0.4%
	South West	3,310	2	0.1%	13,850	18	0.1%
	Wales	1,827	1	0.1%	8,164	14	0.2%
2013	London	9,151	14	0.2%	36,866	259	0.7%
	Midlands	4,878	6	0.1%	25,170	102	0.4%
	North East	5,067	6	0.1%	23,088	74	0.3%
	North West	4,625	3	0.1%	21,783	40	0.2%
	South East	5,614	5	0.1%	26,834	76	0.3%
	South West	2,718	3	0.1%	12,850	27	0.2%
	Wales	1,616	0	0.0%	8,496	13	0.2%
2014	London	9,202	11	0.1%	35,715	222	0.6%
	Midlands	5,156	3	0.1%	27,397	87	0.3%
	North East	5,498	3	0.1%	22,572	65	0.3%
	North West	5,219	1	0.0%	22,747	38	0.2%
	South East	6,390	7	0.1%	27,892	78	0.3%
	South West	2,947	1	0.0%	14,283	28	0.2%
	Wales	1,562	0	0.0%	8,378	6	0.1%
2015	London	10,161	4	0.0%	36,743	175	0.5%
	Midlands	5,532	1	0.0%	27,722	78	0.3%
	North East	5,504	3	0.1%	22,697	43	0.2%
	North West	5,448	1	0.0%	22,335	48	0.2%
	South East	7,357	7	0.1%	29,671	87	0.3%
	South West	3,286	6	0.2%	15,303	34	0.2%
	Wales	1,747	1	0.1%	8,197	9	0.1%
2016	London	10,055	12	0.1%	34,074	200	0.6%
	Midlands	5,389	4	0.1%	28,295	75	0.3%
	North East	5,444	2	0.0%	21,553	61	0.3%
	North West	4,943	1	0.0%	20,307	52	0.3%
	South East	6,986	8	0.1%	26,173	75	0.3%
	South West	2,802	2	0.1%	11,396	27	0.2%
	Wales	1,720	1	0.1%	7,625	5	0.1%
2017*	London	6,596	7	0.1%	22,922	134	0.6%
	Midlands	4,183	3	0.1%	19,572	41	0.2%
	North East	4,056	4	0.1%	14,747	27	0.2%
	North West	3,393	3	0.1%	15,528	48	0.3%
	South East	4,944	4	0.1%	18,751	35	0.2%
	South West	2,093	3	0.1%	8,504	24	0.3%
	Wales	1,186	0	0.0%	5,534	10	0.2%

* data to September 2017

The department continues to monitor its language service services contract closely with the suppliers to drive improvements and reduce the cost on the taxpayer.