Interpreters & Translators

REQUEST PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - Cheshire Police / Warrington Police Station
I am writing to request the following information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to the provision of face-to-face interpreters in your Constabulary:
1. Annually, what volume of arrestees are non-English speakers? (expressed as a percentage of the total annual number of arrestees, for the last two years)
a) for the constabulary as a whole;
b) for Warrington police station.
2. Since 02 August 2010, how many times was a face-to-face foreign language interpreter required to assist with a non-English speaking arrestee?
a) for the constabulary as a whole;
b) for Warrington police station.
3. Since 02 August 2010, how many times was a face-to-face foreign language interpreter provided by Applied Language Solutions (ALS)?
a) for the constabulary as a whole;
b) for Warrington police station.
4. Since 02 August 2010, how many of the face-to-face foreign language interpreters provided by Applied Language Solutions (ALS) were registered with the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI)?
a) for the constabulary as a whole;
b) for Warrington police station.
5. Since 02 August 2010, how many face-to-face foreign language interpreters were not sourced through Applied Language Solutions (ALS)?
a) for the constabulary as a whole;
b) for Warrington police station.
6. Insofar as this information is available, please provide comparative figures for the constabulary’s annual expenditure on face-to-face foreign language interpreters in the two years prior to 01 April 2009
(figures should be exclusive of expenditure on translation services, BSL interpreters and telephone interpreting).
7. Please provide the constabulary’s annual expenditure on face-to-face foreign language interpreters under the Service Level Agreement with Applied Language Solutions (ALS) after 01 April 2009 and for the current financial year
(figures should be exclusive of expenditure on translation services, BSL interpreters and telephone interpreting).
8. How many complaints have been received regarding the quality of interpreters since 02 August 2010?
a) complaints from police users of interpreting services;
b) complaints from non-police users of interpreting services (solicitors, arrestees, witnesses, victims);
c) complaints relating to interpreters used at Warrington police station.
9. Since 02 August 2010, how many times was the custody time limit of a non-English speaking arrestee at Warrington police station extended by a senior officer because of problems obtaining an interpreter through Applied Language Solutions (ALS)?
10. With regard to the occasions referred to in question 9, what length of time did each non-English speaking arrestee have to wait for an interpreter from Applied Language Solutions (ALS) to attend?
11. With regard to the occasions referred to in question 9, how many times was an NRPSI interpreter contacted directly after ALS failed to provide a (competent) interpreter?
12. With regard to the occasions referred to in question 9, what length of time was each non-English speaking arrestee held in custody at Warrington police station?

In accordance with section 1 (1) (a) of the Act I can confirm that we hold some of the information you have requested. However from our preliminary assessment, we estimate that compliance with your request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000. This is currently £450

The basis for this is the time it would take to answer questions 1 a) 6 & 7. Although we hold the building blocks for this information the work required to collate it would take seven to ten days for one person.

In order to assist we can say that in respect of questions 1 b), 2 b), 3 b), 4 b), 5 b,) 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 we do not hold any information. In respect of the statistical information in the remaining questions this is information that we publish on our web site which is updated quarterly.