PQ: 20 May 2025

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-05-12.51640.h

Ministry of Justice: Translation Services

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 20 May 2025.

Rupert Lowe Independent, Great Yarmouth

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if they will make it their policy to not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages for services provided by their Department.

Sarah Sackman The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice has statutory obligations to provide language services where they are needed in the delivery of justice services.

 

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-05-12.51637.h

Home Office: Translation Services

Home Office written question – answered at on 20 May 2025.

Rupert Lowe Independent, Great Yarmouth

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if they will make it their policy to not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages for services provided by their Department.

Rupert Lowe Independent, Great Yarmouth

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of English language proficiency on long-term integration outcomes for migrants.

Seema Malhotra The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery. The Government’s Immigration White Paper sets out plans for the new English Language requirements across a range of routes, and makes clear our belief that the ability to speak English is critical for anyone wishing to integrate successfully into our communities.

However, there are some circumstances when it is essential to provide translation sources, for example when dealing with young women who have been trafficked into the UK against their will and subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, and who require support and care after being rescued from those situations.

PQ: 16 May 2025

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-05-12.51633.h

Department for Work and Pensions: Translation Services

Department for Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 16 May 2025.

Rupert Lowe Independent, Great Yarmouth

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if they will make it their policy to not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages for services provided by their Department.

Andrew Western The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

DWP has a statutory duty to provide language services to its customers in line with the Equality Act. The aim of the service is to provide spoken and written translation services for staff and customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or do not speak English as a first language in order to access DWP services. Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery. DWP has no plans to move away from this statutory duty.

PQ: 6 May 2025

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-04-22.HL6716.h

Courts: Interpreters

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 6 May 2025.

Lord Laming Chair, Accommodation Steering Group Committee

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making in improving the efficiency of handling complaints about the use of interpreters in the courts system.

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We have a complaints process that manages complaints about the interpreting service, complaints about specific interpreters, and complaints by interpreters. We are always looking to improve the efficiency of our processes. The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the House of Lords published a report into interpreting in the courts on 24 March 2025, and we are currently reviewing its recommendations about complaints. We will respond to the PSC’s report in due course.

 

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2025-05-06a.1456.1

Artificial Intelligence: Public Services - Question

– in the House of Lords at 2:58 pm on 6 May 2025.

[…] Baroness Coussins Crossbench

My Lords, does the Minister agree that caution is needed if public services, in an attempt to be inclusive but also to save money, convey information in languages other than English that has been produced by machine translation? That works pretty well for standard Romance languages and for German, but it is much less effective for languages with many dialects, such as Arabic, and it is currently virtually useless for Asian or African languages because they have not been used in AI training data. Is all this being fed into emerging AI policy and prospective regulation?

Lord Vallance of Balham Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

I thank the noble Baroness. This is an incredibly important point. As the noble Baroness rightly says, the AI training datasets are often not on the right things, and this is an example where there is a need for training of models in different languages and dialects. It will be very important as part of public service improvements. I thank the noble Baroness for raising this issue—and yes, it is something that is being looked at. […]