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Translation Services

Volume 455: debated on Wednesday 24 January 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what documents his Department and its agencies translate for people in the UK who do not speak English; into which languages such documents are translated; and what the cost was of producing such translations in each of the last five years, broken down by language of translation. (113872)

No documents were translated in 2002 but in the last four years, DEFRA’s translation section has arranged the translation of the following documents for people in the UK who do not speak English:

Amendment to paragraph of “EC Quality Standards for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables—A Retailer’s Guide” (2003)

Leaflet entitled “If in doubt, leave it out” (re illegal imports) (2003)

Leaflet on Manual Harvest Workers (2003)

Gangmaster leaflet (2004)

Extracts from Agriculture and Horticulture Act (2004)

Leaflet entitled “Waste—duty of care” (2004)

Leaflet entitled “Food on the Go” (2005)

Two dry cleaning leaflets—reminders about Solvent Emissions Directive (2006)

Summary leaflet—Controls on the handling of waste (2006)

The cost per language in each of these years is as follows:

£

2003

2004

2005

2006

Arab

1,066

235

0

0

Bengali

1,066

0

1,045

504

Chinese Simplified

595

0

0

0

Chinese Traditional

665

1,004

1,045

424

Farsi

0

235

0

0

Greek

0

0

0

65

Gujarati

1,136

0

1,045

65

Hindi

1,136

0

0

0

Kurdish

0

470

0

0

Polish

94

0

0

0

Portuguese

73

0

0

0

Punjabi

1,136

0

1,045

0

Russian

72

0

0

0

Turkish

70

0

1,045

431

Urdu

1,136

2,555

1,045

504

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for which services provided by his Department and its related agencies translation services are provided. (113873)

DEFRA’s translation section provides a translation service from and into English for staff in the Department’s core divisions and its Executive agencies. Translations into English include correspondence, health conditions, draft EU regulations and scientific articles. Translations into a variety of foreign languages include correspondence and health certificates, plus some leaflets aimed at non-English speakers in the UK. In addition, publications, consultations and letters are regularly translated into Welsh under DEFRA’s Welsh Language Scheme, as set out on our website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/welshlangscheme/index.htm.