The Department for Communities and Local Government has not made a recent estimate of the amount of money spent on interpreters by local authorities. Local authorities are accountable for this spend, but the Secretary of State is committed to working with them to look at the issue and consider balancing this to give a greater focus on promoting community cohesion. My right hon. Friend has therefore asked the Commission on Integration and Cohesion to consider this issue as part of its report due in June 2007.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has not made any recent estimate of the amount spent by local authorities on providing information in foreign languages. Local authorities are accountable for this spend, but the Secretary of State is committed to working with them to look at the issue and consider balancing this to give a greater focus on promoting community cohesion. My right hon. Friend has therefore asked the Commission on Integration and Cohesion to consider this issue as part of its report due in June 2007.
This information is not available as the Department’s statistical data collections from local authorities do not separately identify expenditure on translation services and therefore the information could be collated only at disproportionate cost. The Secretary of State has asked the Commission on Integration and Cohesion to consider this issue as part of its report that is due in June 2007.