Request ID: FOI-1247-2122 Date published: 07 October 2021
You asked
1. What is the breakdown/number of all translation and interpretation services per language including spend per annum for your organisation (for the last 3 financial years).
2. Do you currently offer a translation and/or interpreting service (inhouse)? If not, who is your current supplier for language services?
If yes
a. who is the person/service responsible for interpreting and translation services within your organisation? Please provide contact details and job title.
b. what system do you use to deliver this service?
c. do you provide your services in-house (throughout the organisation?) d. do you provide services external to the organisation?
e. How much do you charge for your services?
3. If you do offer an inhouse service, do you offer:
- face to face interpreting services
- sensory support services (including BSL)
- telephone interpreting services
- written translation services
4. Do you use in-house casual interpreters/translations to deliver the service?
5. Do you use in-house permanent/fixed term interpreters/translators to deliver the service?
6. Do you use language providers to deliver the service?
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-1247-2122
Thank you for your request received on 10 September 2021 asking for information about translation services.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.
Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to locate and compile any information we might hold that is relevant to your request. Translation services are carried out in many different forms across different areas of the organisation, both formal and informal, and there is no simple way of directly reporting on this subject. In order to determine what information was held in relation to your request we would need to manually review a significant volume of information to collate anything that is relevant to your request as there is no clear and defined way in which we could accurately report in a way that we could be satisfied includes all potentially relevant information within the time limit described above.
If you would like to submit another request we recommend you outline, as clearly and concisely as possible, precisely the information you require.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.
Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
