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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 939-223
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 12th October 2023 as follows:
Q1. Please confirm your overall spending on Translation and Interpreting Services, for each of the financial years:
Q2. Please provide a breakdown of languages for the last 12 months
Q3. What languages were your suppliers not able to supply in 2022?
Q4. Which external supplier(s) do you currently use to deliver your interpreting and translation services ?
Q5. Are you able to provide approximate fee / interpreting session for:
Q6. If you outsource the provision of interpreting services to an external provider, could you please confirm:
Q7. From which budget within your organisation are interpreting services funded?
Q8. Where do you advertise your tenders? If you do not do a full tender / which frameworks would you use?
Q9. What is the start and end date for either the framework or direct contracts you have with interpreting and translation supplier(s)?
Q10. Please provide the name and email of the contract manager for the service
Q11. If we would like to engage in conversation with a member of staff in your organisation to discuss the innovation we propose to develop, who would be the most suitable person to approach?
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Q1 response:
Financial Year |
Total |
2020/21 |
86,545.05 |
2022/23 |
81,823.30 |
Grand Total |
168,368.35 |
Q2 response: The below breakdown of languages is for the 12-month period August 2022 to August 2023. This is the most recent 12-month breakdown held.
Language |
Albanian |
Amharic |
Arabic |
Bengali |
British Sign |
Bulgarian |
Cantonese |
Catalan |
Chinese Mandarin |
Czech |
Deaf Relay |
Farsi - Dari |
Farsi - Iranian |
French |
German |
Greek |
Gujarati |
Hindi |
Hungarian |
Indonesian |
Italian |
Japanese |
Kurdish - Badini |
Kurdish - Kurmanji |
Kurdish - Sorani |
Latvian |
Lithuanian |
Malayalam |
Mandinka |
Nepalese |
Polish |
Portuguese |
Punjabi - (P Mirpuri) |
Punjabi - India |
Pushtu |
Romanian |
Russian |
Shona |
Sinhalese |
Slovakian |
Somali |
Spanish |
Tagalog |
Tamil |
Telugu |
Thai |
Tigrinya |
Turkish |
Twi |
Ukrainian |
Urdu |
Uzbek |
Vietnamese |
Q3 response: The languages for which there was no availability of an interpreter in calendar year 2022 are set out below. However, it should be noted that those languages can be provided generally, but just not at the specific point in time requested.
Language |
Mandinka |
Latvian |
Japanese |
Turkish |
Romanian |
Arabic |
British Sign |
Estonian |
Russian |
Polish |
Q4 response: Cintra Languages Services Group LTD.
Q5 response: Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
When refusing to provide such information, because the information is exempt, Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Warwickshire Police to provide you the applicant, with a notice which:
(a) States that fact
(b) Specifies the exemption(s) in question and
(c) States (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption(s) applies.
I can confirm that Warwickshire Police do hold the requested information; however, it is being withheld from disclosure by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 43(2) Commercial Interests
Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
Section 43(2) is a prejudice based qualified exemption and there is a requirement to articulate the harm as well as carrying out a public interest test.
Harm
Disclosure of the pricing structure is likely to cause financial loss to both the supplier and the purchasing authority. In the event that such information is disclosed, then the competitive position of that supplier would be eroded. Companies could also refuse to do business or submit tenders with an authority that readily release their sensitive commercial information into the public domain, thereby reducing competition and, as a result, driving up prices that the force pays for goods or services.
Public Interest Test
Factors Favouring Disclosure
The release of the information would demonstrate openness and accountability for monies spent and would contribute to the accuracy and quality of public debate.
Factors Against Disclosure
There is a public interest in protecting the commercial interests of individual companies and ensuring they are able to compete fairly.
Release of such information would make the market less competitive and erode the benefit this brings to the spending of public money.
Such disclosure may dissuade companies from doing business with, or from giving favourable rates to, the police service. This would impact upon Warwickshire Police’s ability to get the best value for money for goods or services.
Balance Test
When undertaking a public interest test, factors favouring disclosure need to be balanced against factors against. The benefits of transparency and accountability are highly valued; however, this must be balanced against the harm that would be caused if information were disclosed. As mentioned above, there is a public interest in protecting the commercial interests of individual companies as this ensures that the market remains fair and competitive and that authorities are able to get the best value for money in respect of the goods and services procured.
Therefore, on balance, it is considered that the public interest in providing the information is outweighed by the potential impact release would have and this represents a refusal notice for information in relation to this element of your request.
Q6a response: National Police DPS framework for Language Services.
Q6b response: 30th September 2025.
Q6c response: No information held. Leicestershire Police ran the national procurement on behalf of the Midlands region, of which Warwickshire Police are a part. Warwickshire Police do not hold a copy of the successful tender.
Q7 response: Custody
Q8 response: Police DPS.
Q9 response: The contract runs from 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2025.
Q10 response: Diane Davies, Procurement Manager. Email: [email protected]
Q11 response: As above response, however we are contracted for services until October 2025.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB