Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with an electronic purchasing card for January to July 2022, what the nature of the interpretation and translation services were for which his Department paid £11,634.63 over that period, and for what reason has the supplier of those services not been named.

The UK government has been engaged in negotiation with representatives of the Spanish Government on the terms and extent of a driving licence exchange agreement with Spain.

This has required “live” interpretation during these online negotiation meetings. The Department for Transport, as lead department responsible for driving licence exchange policy, is responsible for paying the interpretation service used.

We have redacted the name of the interpreter as per Transparency guidelines and data protection act.