Yorkshire Post: Councils face soaring costs over help for immigrants

EXCLUSIVE: Pressure was last night increasing on the Government to reform the law, with Yorkshire councils reporting rocketing translation costs to deal with EU enlargement.

Local authorities are being forced to pay huge increases in costs to cope with the wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe, figures released to the Yorkshire Post under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

The money councils have spent on translators and interpreters has soared since the European Union expanded in May 2004.

In Sheffield the cost of translation services - including providing interpreters and translating leaflets - almost doubled from £169,000 in 2002/03 to £313,000 in 2006/07.

And in Kirklees, a drop in the amount paid for translation services over the last three years cannot mask a 28 per cent rise in the amount spent on Eastern European languages.

That includes an 180 per cent increase in the number of times Polish translators were needed in the last year - and a 285 per cent increase in the number of Slovakian translations.

Last night Corin Taylor, spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Translation costs are clearly excessive - and not just with local authorities but with NHS trusts and the police too.

"The national language is English and that's what businesses and authorities should be communicating in. Of course there is a need to translate key documents, but a lot of councils are going beyond the demands of legislation. That's been growing worse in recent years and it's the taxpayers having to pay the price."

Pressure is growing on the Government to constrain local authority translation, with an influential commission now claiming that the current policy is both costing councils too much and stopping immigrants from having to learn English.

Last December the Department for Communities-funded Commission for Integration and Cohesion was asked to look into local authority translations.

This summer it reported back that:

There was no legal reason for all materials to be translated ;

Translation should not be a substitute for learning English;

And it should be reduced in languages used by long-settled groups and only be used for new communities.

It said: "Is it essential that the material be translated? If so, does it need to be translated in full? Would a short summary do? Does every community group need to know about it? Would there be an additional burden on public services of not translating it?"

The commission suggested translations be paid for by including adverts for English lessons within the text.

The Race Relations Act only states that all parts of the community should have access to services. The Human Rights Act requires translation only if someone is arrested or charged with a criminal offence.

Last night a Department of Communities spokeswoman said: "We are considering the report in detail and will respond formally in the autumn."

Due to different information available from each local authority in Yorkshire, it is impossible to compare results like-for-like - but, of the 17 that responded to the request for information, only Craven Council has not seen any increase in costs since the EU expanded.

In Rotherham costs jumped from £23,709 in 2002/03 to £35,430.50 the next year, and Calderdale paints a similar picture with costs rising from £10,232 to £26,771 between 2002/03 and 2003/04.

Although the EU enlargement did not happen until a month into the financial year 2003/04, many councils paid out to translate documents into the new languages in anticipation.

Last September a Yorkshire Post investigation revealed that the region's police forces have more than doubled the amount spent on interpreters since 2002/03. West Yorkshire Police, for example, went from £484,982 in 20002/03, to £1,090,627 in 200505/06.

And last December it was revealed that Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was spending £400,000 on translating services.