4 April 2014
Spending on
court interpreters doubled in a year to over £15m
The cost to
taxpayers of foreign language translators in the courts has almost doubled in a
year to more than £15million.
The Courts and
Tribunal Service,
run by the Ministry of Justice, spent £15,537,821 on interpreters last year
compared with £7,940,128 in 2012.
But the total is
likely to be higher as the figures relate to a Government outsourcing contract
with Capita and do not include bookings made elsewhere.
Justice Minister
Shailesh Vara, responding to a Parliamentary query, said the increased outlay
was partly due to “changes made to the contract” in May 2013 and an estimated
20 per cent increase in the number of interpreters needed at court hearings.
Mr Vara said: “The
number of bookings made off-contract has substantially decreased since the
start of 2012 with those bookings moving on
to the Capita contract.”
He insisted that
major financial savings had been made under the changes.
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