1. Please confirm your overall spend on interpreting, translation and transcription services for the following financial years:
2021-22
2022-23
This information is available at a previous Freedom of Information (FOI) request Translation, Interpretation and language services costs.
Please note that translation/interpreting assignments are booked by individual service areas, these figures are only based upon organisations that we believe are most frequently providing services and the figures will not show other services that have been engaged.
2. Who is your incumbent supplier(s) for language services? If you have more than one supplier, which services does each one provide to you?
Sign Solutions for British Sign Language (via a contract).
For all other languages we use Language Line for telephone interpreting. Multilingua is a frequent supplier for face to face interpreting or translation, however we do not have a single preferred supplier.
3. If you have a separate British Sign Language (BSL)/non-spoken supplier, who is this?
Please see the answer to question 2.
4. If you have a separate transcription supplier, who is this?
Please see the answer to question 2.
5. Do you have any in-house interpreters/translators?
No.
6. When is your current language services contract(s) due to expire, a) without extensions and b) with all possible extensions?
July 2025 (BSL). There are no extensions.
7. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the contract manager responsible for language services?
The person responsible for language services is our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager Jo Hooper.
Devon County Council email addresses follow the format of first name.surname@devon.gov.uk and you can ask for an individual by name when calling 01392 383000.
8. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for your language services budget?
Each service area pays for its use of interpreting/translations – there is no language services budget.
9. Could you please provide the following data for 2023:
Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (spoken language) and hours completed
Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (non-spoken language) and hours completed
Total number of telephone interpreting calls and minutes completed
Total number of video interpreting calls (spoken language) and minutes completed
Total number of video interpreting calls (non-spoken language) and minutes completed
Total number of document translations and words translated
Total number of audio transcriptions and total audio duration
We are unable to provide this information across all languages as we only hold information for non spoken languages. Please see the table below for information with regards to BSL:
| Actual Time Spent (in hours) | Jan-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | Oct-23 | Nov-23 | Dec-23 | Year-23 |
| Face-to-Face | 7.35 | 7.05 | 2.40 | 6.00 | 13.20 | 23.25 | 8.35 | 14.30 | 81.90 |
| Video | 2.52 | 2.05 | 3.23 | 0.10 | 1.10 | 2.22 | 0.26 | 1.05 | 12.53 |
| Total Time Spent | 10.27 | 9.10 | 6.03 | 6.10 | 14.30 | 25.47 | 9.01 | 15.35 | 95.63 |
10. What were your top 20 highest-volume languages for interpreting/translation requests in 2023?
Devon County Council does not hold this information.
11. Can you please provide the fill rate % you received for the following services in 2023:
Face-to-face interpreting
Telephone interpreting
Video interpreting
Document translation
Audio transcription
The average for BSL is 97%. We do not hold this information for other languages.
12. What languages has your provider been unable to source in the last 12 months?
We do not hold this information.
13. Have service credits been applied on your language services contract in the last 12 months? If so, what performance failure was this linked to?
No.
14. What social value has been delivered as part of this contract in the last 12 months?
The ability for people who do not speak English to communicate with us and visa versa.
15. If your contract was awarded through a tender process, can you please provide a copy of the winning bidder’s tender?
The contract was not awarded through a tender process, this was done as a direct award via the Crown Commercial Services which is permitted under this mechanism Language Services – Crown Commercial Service (CCS).
16. What are your contracted rates for each of the following services?
Spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate –
Non-spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate –
Telephone interpreting: per minute rate –
Spoken video interpreting: per minute rate –
Non-spoken video interpreting:
Document translation: per word rate –
Audio transcription: per audio minute rate –
We consider that the information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act Section 43(2) Commercial Confidentiality. We are satisfied that disclosure of the information would, or would be likely to, prejudice or harm the commercial interests of ourselves and our providers. A commercial interest relates to an ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity. As Section 43 is a qualified exemption we have applied a public interest test to decide if the balance of the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs that of disclosing the information.
There is a public interest in encouraging transparency about the negotiation of public sector contracts. This may encourage companies to take part in the process and help them improve their bids, which in turn increases competition and help public authorities to get value for money. However, there is a counter argument in favour of non – disclosure where disclosure would reduce our ability to negotiate or compete in a commercial environment. We consider that, on balance the public interest lies in non-disclosure of the contracted rates of these services and are therefore applying the exemption.
17. Has your provider of language services increased their charge rate to you in the last 12 months?
No.
18. What is the Authority’s typical route to market?
We use the following link Supplying the South West Portal.
19. Does the Authority currently have any interpreter on wheel devices as part of their current contract? If yes please advise how many and if these are provided free of charge or paid for by the Authority.
No.
20. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person in charge of procurement for the Authority?
The person in charge of procurement is our Senior Procurement & Contracts Officer Oliver Reed.
Devon County Council email addresses follow the format of first name.surname@devon.gov.uk and you can ask for an individual by name when calling 01392 383000.