Translation Services

Mr. Ian Austin
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.

Barry Gardiner
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:

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|                   |2003 |2004 |2005 |2006|
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|Arab               |1,066|235  |0    |0   |
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|Bengali            |1,066|0    |1,045|504 |
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|Chinese Simplified |595  |0    |0    |0   |
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|Chinese Traditional|665  |1,004|1,045|424 |
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|Farsi              |0    |235  |0    |0   |
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|Greek              |0    |0    |0    |65  |
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|Gujarati           |1,136|0    |1,045|65  |
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|Hindi              |1,136|0    |0    |0   |
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|Kurdish            |0    |470  |0    |0   |
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|Polish             |94   |0    |0    |0   |
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|Portuguese         |73   |0    |0    |0   |
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|Punjabi            |1,136|0    |1,045|0   |
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|Russian            |72   |0    |0    |0   |
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|Turkish            |70   |0    |1,045|431 |
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|Urdu               |1,136|2,555|1,045|504 |
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Mr. Ian Austin
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.

Barry Gardiner
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.