Interpreter and Translation Services Quarterly Bulletin

April - June 2010

Introduction

1. The purpose of this report is to provide an analysis of business volumes and costs associated with the provision of language interpretation (both foreign language and sign language) and translation services during April to June 2010.

Summary

2. During this period a total of 939 requests were received for interpreter services in court proceedings. The comparable figure for the same quarter in 2009 was 869 representing an increase of 7.5% [see Figure 1 below).

3. During the period the following requests were received;
13 requests for sign language interpretation
24 requests for translation of documents

4. A breakdown of requests by court type and tier is illustrated in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Breakdown of requests by Court Tier / Type

* 6 of these requests were for sign language interpretation
** 7 of these requests were for sign language interpretation

Language Interpretation – Criminal Proceedings

5. During this quarter, a total of 865 requests were received to arrange foreign language interpreter services for defendants in criminal proceedings.

6. Business volumes for the previous 12 months are illustrated in Figure 2 over.

7. A breakdown of requests by court venue is illustrated in Table 2 below. Further detail on the breakdown of requests by language type for each venue can be found at Annex A.

Table 2: Breakdown of requests by court venue

* Banbridge courthouse is currently closed

8. The highest number of requests for interpretation services in criminal proceedings was received from Newry Court Office.

9. A breakdown of the requests received this quarter by language type is illustrated in Table 3 below.

Table 3: breakdown of requests in criminal cases by language type

10. The top 4 languages requested during this quarter were Lithuanian, Polish, Mandarin and Portuguese.

Extradition proceedings

11. During the reporting period a total of 16 requests to arrange interpreter services in Extradition Proceedings were received. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was 11.

12. A breakdown of requests by language type is set out in Table 4 below.

Table 4: Breakdown of requests by language type for extradition proceedings

Civil Proceedings

13. There were no requests for foreign language interpreters in civil hearings in this period.

Family Proceedings

14. During the reporting period there were 43 requests to arrange interpreter services in Family Proceedings. This compares to 16 for the previous quarter. Details of the languages and locations are contained in Table 5 below.

Table 5: Breakdown of requests in Family Proceedings by court type / venue

Coroners Court

16. A breakdown of requests by location and language type is set out in Table 6 below.

Table 6: Breakdown of requests for coroners courts by location and language type

Sign Language Interpreters / Palantypist Requests

17. During the reporting period a total of 13 requests were received to arrange an interpreter for deaf or hearing impaired customers attending court.  The comparable figure for the previous quarter was 10.

18. A breakdown of requests by court tier is set out in Table 7 below.

Table 7: Breakdown of requests for Sign Language Interpreters / Palantypist by court tier

Document Translation

19. During the quarter 24 requests were received for document translation. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was 34. 

20. A breakdown of requests by location and language type is illustrated in Tables 8 and 9 below.

Table 8: Breakdown of requests for document translation by location

Table 9: Breakdown of document translations by language

Telephone Interpretation

21. A telephone Interpretation facility is available at Laganside, Dungannon, Newry and the RCJ. In the period April June 2010, 5 calls were made.

Costs

Criminal Proceedings

22. The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service [NICTS] is responsible for arranging the attendance of an interpreter to support defendants who require the assistance of a language interpreter at a second or subsequent hearing of a criminal case.

23. The cost of providing interpreters at criminal hearings from April to June 2010 was £166,764.04. This compares to £121,477.32 which was the amount for the previous quarter.

Civil and Family Proceedings

23. Generally, when an action is privately funded, it is a matter for the party requiring the services of an interpreter to make the arrangements and meet the costs. However, where the action is in respect of civil committal proceedings, NICTS has a legal obligation under the human rights legislation to provide an interpreter and meet the costs.

24. The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service will arrange language interpreters for civil and family hearings in the following circumstances:
Domestic violence, family cases involving children and cases proceeding under the Forced Marriage Act.

25. Because of the sensitivity of these types of proceedings, the NICTS will arrange and pay for an interpreter if required. This is irrespective of whether solicitors are involved or public funding is available.

26. There was no cost incurred for interpreters in civil proceedings during this quarter.

27. The cost for interpreters engaged for family proceedings during this quarter was £5,705.61. The cost for the previous quarter was £1,909.40

Coroners Courts

28. The cost for interpreters engaged for coroners’ cases during this quarter was £1,130.44.

Extradition Proceedings

29. The total cost of interpreters engaged for extradition proceedings during this period was £2,456.96. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was £1,276.01

Sign Language Interpreters

30. The cost of sign language interpreters attending criminal cases during this quarter was £819.00

31. The cost of interpreters engaged to assist deaf or hearing impaired customers in civil and family proceedings was £1,895. Comparing this with the previous quarter the amount came to £2,012 while there was no cost attributed to criminal sign language cases.

Document translation

32. The total costs incurred by NICTS for document translation this quarter amounted to £772.70. The figure for the previous quarter was £1,970.52

Telephone Interpretation

33. The cost incurred for the use of the telephone interpretation facility during this period was £138.84. The figure for the previous quarter was £46.41.

If you have any comments or queries regarding the content of this report, please contact;

Caroline Bodles or Rachel Taylor
Judicial and Customer Services Group
4th Floor
Laganside House
23-25 Oxford Street
BT1 3LA
DX 478 NR Belfast 1

Telephone:  028 9072 8921
Text phone: 028 9041 2920
E mail interpreterrequests@courtsni.gov.uk

This document will be made available in a wide range of alternative formats. Requests for alternative formats should be made by contacting our Communications Group.

Criminal Interpreting Requests by Language and Location April – June 10 Annex A