Interpreter and Translation Services Quarterly Bulletin

January – March 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 January to March 2010.

Summary

2. During this period a total of 827 requests were received for interpreter services in court proceedings. The comparable figure for the same quarter in 2009 was 937 representing a decrease of 11.7% [see Figure 1 below).

3. During the period the following requests were also received;

• 10 requests for sign language interpretation
• 34 requests for translation of documents

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

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

Language Interpretation – Criminal Proceedings

5. During this quarter, a total of 789 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.

*Banbridge court office is currently not open to the public

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

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

* includes figues for North African Arabic and Egyptian Arabic
**a language spoken in Nigeria

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

Extradition proceedings

11. During the reporting period a total of 11 requests to arrange interpreter services in Extradition Proceedings were received. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was 7.

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

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 16 requests to arrange interpreter services in Family Proceedings. This compares to 11 for the previous quarter. Details of the languages and locations are contained in Table 5 below.

Coroners Court

15. During the reporting period 1 request was made to arrange interpreting services in a Coroners’ Court. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was also 1.

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

Sign Language Interpreters / Palantypist Requests

17. During the reporting period a total of 10 requests were received to arrange an interpreter for deaf or hearing impaired customers attending court. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was also 12.

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

Document Translation

19. During the quarter 34 requests were received for document translation. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was 51. Six requests were for translations of documents into multiple languages, and the total number of translations by language was 56.

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

Telephone Interpretation

21. A telephone Interpretation facility is available at Laganside, Dungannon, Newry and the RCJ. In the period, 1 call was made from the RCJ line. The call was in Czechoslovakian.

Costs

For the purposes of this report, costs are calculated on the basis of payments made in the period, rather than requests received.

Criminal Proceedings

22. The NI Court 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 January to March 2010 was £121,477.32. This compares to £103,688.96 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 Court 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 Northern Ireland Court Service 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 £1,909.40. The cost for the previous quarter was £1,201.32.

Coroners Courts

28. The cost for interpreters engaged for coroners’ cases during this quarter was £183.22.

Extradition Proceedings

29. The total cost of interpreters engaged for extradition proceedings during this period was £1,276.01. The comparable figure for the previous quarter was £1,428.66.

Sign Language Interpreters

30. The cost of sign language interpreters attending criminal cases during this quarter was £2,086.

31. The cost of interpreters engaged to assist deaf or hearing impaired customers in civil and family proceedings was £2,012. Comparing this with the previous quarter the amount came to £3,101 while there was no cost attributed to criminal sign language cases.

Document translation

32. The total costs incurred by Court Service for document translation this quarter amounted to £1,970.52.  The figure for the previous quarter was £5,184.17.

Telephone Interpretation

33. The cost incurred for the use of the telephone interpretation facility during this period was £46.41. The figure for the previous quarter was £31.68.

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

Caroline Bodles
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 Communications Group at the address below.

Annex A