Translation and interpretation services used by GoJ (FOI)

​​​​Request 664179720

I am writing to request information regarding the expenditure on translation and interpretation services by the Government of Jersey and its associated organisations.

Please provide the following information for each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023:

1) The overall amount spent on translation and interpretation services in each year.

2) The total amount spent per language for each year.

3) For each language, a further breakdown of expenditure each year into:

a) Written Translation Services - the costs associated with translating written materials such as leaflets, consultations, official documents, and other written communications.

b) In-Person and Remote Real-Time Interpretation Services - the costs associated with providing interpreters for real-time communication, including accompanying individuals to medical appointments, court proceedings, and any remote interpretation services provided via phone or video conferencing.

Please provide the information in an electronic format, such as a spreadsheet or PDF document.

If providing a full breakdown is likely to exceed cost limits, please supply as much information as possible within the cost limit, prioritising the total expenditure figures and the breakdown by language.

Department Responses

Justice and Home Affairs Response 

Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSI):​

A breakdown of if this was in person or in writing is not held for the HSI. Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Jersey Customs and Immigration Service (JCIS):

​All JCIS services were telephone translation services. Information on specific languages is not held. Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law applies.

States of Jersey Prison Service (SoJPS):

​States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service (SJFRS):

Justice and Home Affairs Total:

The Office of the Superintendent Registrar provides French to English translation services as part of their operational and statutory role and therefore the cost is included in the statutory fees charged to the general public. They do not offer any other non-statutory translation or interpretation services. 

Nil return from the States of Jersey Ambulance Service and Jersey Field Squadron. 

Children, Young People, Education and Skills Response 

1.

Please see the below totals in relation to translation costs broken down by year for the Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department within the Government of Jersey. 

2.

This information is not held in recorded form. To provide an answer to the request would require extraction and manipulation of data to produce new information.

A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to manipulate and create new data sets. It has been estimated that the cost of extracting the data would exceed the cost limit provisions set out in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore Articles 3 and 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 have been apply. 

3.

This information is not held in recorded form. To provide an answer to the request would require extraction and manipulation of data to produce new information, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Employment, Social Security and Housing response  

1.

Overall amount spent on translation and interpretation services: ​

​2.

We do not record translation expenses by language – Therefore the information as requested is not held in a format for the purpose of Freedom of Information. It has been assessed that any information held regarding languages may be on individual invoices. However, the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 does not require a Scheduled Public Authority to manipulate data in order to provide a response. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 therefore applies. It is also estimated that to interrogate these records would exceed the time limits prescribed under Regulation therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has also been applied.

3.

These expenses are not recorded by language therefore this information is not held, and Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Health and Care Jersey Response 

1

Annual costs for interpreting and translation services across Health and Community Services, from 2020 to 2023, are detailed in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Health and Community Services’ interpreting and translation services annual costs

2 and 3

Identifying cost data for interpreting and translation services by language would require significant interrogation and reconciliation of multiple datasets. A Scheduled Public Authority is not obliged to create or manipulate data for the purposes of responding to Freedom of Information requests. Furthermore, the resource required to perform such analysis and reconciliation exceeds that prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Cost data for the Big Word translation service, which can be specifically identified from the total annual spend for Health and Community Services, are detailed in Table 2:​

Table 2: Health and Community Services’ annual costs for The Big Word

States of Jersey Police Response

1.

States of Jersey Police can confirm that the overall amount spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the years 2020 to 2023 is shown on the attached Table 1. The total amounts may have credits or reversal of previous purchase orders applied, which is reflected in the variation of cost year to year.

2 & 3.

It has been calculated that to check each invoice received over a four-year period from each supplier in order to determine the total amount spent on each language would take well in excess of the cost allowed by regulation. Article 16 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

External Relations 

1.

Table 1 - overall amount spent on translation and interpretation services in each year.

2.

Table 2 - total amount spent per language for each year.

3a.

Table 3 – cost associated with written translation services.

3b.

Table 4 – cost associated with in-person / real-time translation services:

Response from States Greffe ​

Translation costs included voice-over recording in the language indicated – but this did not involve interpretation.  Where languages are combined, this indicates invoicing did not differentiate between the work undertaken on separate languages. There were no translation costs in 2020

Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Response 

The attached document the breakdown for Government of Jersey translations related to campaigns, reports, and documents commissioned by the Communications Department. 

Table.p​​df

The breakdown is organised by overall spend per year, and total amount spent per language per year. The breakdown does not include detail of Written Translation Services, In-Person and Remote Real-Time Interpretation Services as this information is not captured by the Communications Department. The breakdown relates to all translations commissioned by the Communications Department across various Government departments, not just for the Strategic Planning, Policy & Performance (SPPP) directorate.

To the best of our knowledge and within the time constraints allocated to responding to this request, this document includes all translation and interpretation services for SPPP.

Infrastructure and Environment Response

Information prior to 2021 is unavailable, therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Viscount’s Department 

No data held

Judicial Greffe

1.

The Judicial Greffe holds records in our accounting system relating to the cost of translation and interpretation services in the Courts and Tribunals. The overall amounts spent are as follows:

In the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 our accounting records separated out the costs of translation and interpretation services, however this was not the case in 2023. To provide an answer to the request for 2023 would require extraction and manipulation of data to produce new information.

A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to manipulate and create new data sets. It has been estimated that the cost of extracting the data would exceed the cost limit provisions set out in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore Articles 3 and 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 have been applied.

2.

We do not hold language information in our accounting system. Further information may be held on individual invoices and in court hearing records, however the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 does not require a Scheduled Public Authority to manipulate data in order to provide a response. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 therefore applies. It is also estimated that to interrogate these additional records would exceed the time limits prescribed under Regulation therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has also been applied.

3.

The above recorded expenses relate to both translation services paid for under legal aid and to real time interpretation services for hearings in Courts and Tribunals. It is estimated that to breakdown these figures further would exceed the time limits prescribed under Regulation therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has also been applied.

Articles applied 

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. ​