Translation services
Case reference FOI2023/00420
Published 13 March 2024
Request
1. Please confirm your overall spending on Translation and Interpreting Services, for each of the financial years: a. 2020-2021: b. 2022-2023: 2. Please provide a breakdown of languages for the last 12 months 3. What languages were your suppliers not able to supply in 2022? 4. Which external supplier(s) do you currently use to deliver your interpreting and translation services ? 5. Are you able to provide approximate fee / interpreting session for: a. In-person/face to face interpreting b. Telephone interpreting c. Video interpreting 6. If you outsource the provision of interpreting services to an external provider, could you please confirm: a) Whether the provider was contracted via a national framework? If so, which one? b) When does the current contract expire? c) Is there is an exclusivity clause, which would prevent the trust from piloting new cost saving interpreting services during the duration of your contract with your existing provider? 7. From which budget within your organisation are interpreting services funded? 8. Where do you advertise your tenders? If you do not do a full tender / which frameworks would you use? 9. What is the start and end date for either the framework or direct contracts you have with interpreting and translation supplier(s)?
Response
1. Please confirm your overall spending on Translation and Interpreting Services, for each of the financial years:
a. 2020-2021: £9,911
b. 2022-2023: £12,782
2. Please provide a breakdown of languages for the last 12 months
Bulgarian, Polish, Punjabi, Urdu, Indonesian, Thai, Romanian, Spanish,
Kurdish, Nepalese, Tamil, Japanese, German, Mandarin, Bengali, Farsi
3. What languages were your suppliers not able to supply in 2022?
There were no languages that the supplier was unable to supply
4. Which external supplier(s) do you currently use to deliver your interpreting and translation services ?
Word360.
5. Are you able to provide approximate fee / interpreting session for:
a. In-person/face to face interpreting
b. Telephone interpreting
c. Video interpreting
With regards to the fees, we have applied a section 43(2) exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is a qualified exemption used where disclosure of requested information would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (in this case our Oxford City Council and our suppliers). As this is a qualified exemption, we must undertake a public interest test which is set out below in addition to explanations behind our engagement of this exemption.Disclosures which would provide exact costs would be prejudicial to commercial interests as this would reveal cost agreements which may be the result of negotiations and arrangements with our suppliers. In future, private suppliers would be unlikely to engage in such negotiations and discussions as they would not want information on their costings arrangements to be made public.Private businesses are under no obligation or expectation of transparent disclosure as with public authorities and many suppliers would react strongly to us disclosing their confidential business information. Such disclosure would prejudice their interests and allow them to be potentially undercut; in turn this would prejudice our interests as we must consider both quality and value for money when procuring services and this would be jeopardised if various suppliers refused to interact with us.
6. If you outsource the provision of interpreting services to an external provider, could you please confirm:
a) Whether the provider was contracted via a national framework? If so, which one?
It was procured using an open tender process.
b) When does the current contract expire?
30th Sep 2026.
c) Is there is an exclusivity clause, which would prevent the trust from piloting new cost saving interpreting services during the duration of your contract with your existing provider?
There is no exclusivity clause.
7. From which budget within your organisation are interpreting services funded?
Customer Services Budget.
8. Where do you advertise your tenders? If you do not do a full tender / which frameworks would you use?
Tenders are advertised via Contracts finder and the Oxford City Council Website. The framework used would be dependent on the requirement.
9. What is the start and end date for either the framework or direct contracts you have with interpreting and translation supplier(s)?
1st Oct 2023 to 30th Sep 2026.
Documents
This is Oxford City Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.