PQ: 9 June 2025

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-06-04.57487.h

Courts: Translation Services

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 9 June 2025.

Shockat Adam Independent, Leicester South

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the increase in court translator costs in each region in England and Wales in the last five year.

Shockat Adam Independent, Leicester South

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the cost of off-contract bookings for interpreter bookings in the last five years.

Shockat Adam Independent, Leicester South

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) off-contract bookings and (b) contract-based interpreter services.

Sarah Sackman The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

We do not hold spend data for each region. Total annual spend across all 4 language services contracts, with % increases have been calculated and set out below:

Year	Total	Year on Year % increase	Total Growth (since 2020)	Sitting Days (Financial Year)
2020	£20,217,548.09	-	-	2020/21 – 199,200
2021	£25,062,618.71	24%	24%	2021/22 – 559,888
2022	£26,883,747.04	7%	33%	2022/23 – Over 565,000
2023	£30,374,050.44	13%	50%	2023/24 – Over 580,000
2024	£31,625,158.35	4%	56%	2024/25 - TBC

Off-contract spend:

Year	Total
2020	£1,193,788
2021	£2,157,759
2022	£4,856,616
2023	£6,565,781
2024	£7,037,731

The use of off-contract is typically to cover requirements that arise at short notice and those that are more challenging to fulfil, such as the requirement for languages that are rare or scarce, and as such are more expensive to source. The use of off-contract interpreters allows hearings to go ahead, to continue the delivery of justice.

The next generation of contracts, currently being procured, includes the use of a secondary supplier of interpreters, specifically to source those short notice bookings, and to bring this spend on-contract, with benefits such as improved data and value for money.

Performance levels can be accessed via the Published statistics, which can be found at: Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK

Comparison (2020–2024)

Year	On-Contract Spend (£)	Off-Contract Spend (£)	Total Spend (£)	% On-Contract	% Off-Contract
2020	£20,217,548	£1,193,788	£21,411,336	94.4%	5.6%
2021	£25,062,619	£2,157,759	£27,220,378	92.1%	7.9%
2022	£26,883,747	£4,856,616	£31,740,363	84.7%	15.3%
2023	£30,374,050	£6,565,781	£36,939,831	82.2%	17.8%
2024	£31,625,158	£7,037,731	£38,662,889	81.8%	18.2%