Courts: Interpreters
(asked on 19th December 2017) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, since the contract out of services to provide interpreters to all courts what the estimated number of unfulfilled or cancelled cases was in each year in (a) England and Wales and (b) each region.
We do not collect the relevant data for all jurisdictions and types of hearings in which interpreters are used. However, information on the number of trials listed in the criminal courts which were adjourned (ineffective) due to interpreter availability was published in Criminal Court Statistics until 2016 and is now available at https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/crown-court-information/.
The breakdown for England and Wales is set out below:
| Crown Courts | Magistrates’ Courts | ||||
Year | Number of trials | Adjourned due to interpreter availability | % of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability | Number of trials | Adjourned due to interpreter availability | % of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability |
2012 | 38,432 | 34 | 0.1% | 156,671 | 608 | 0.4% |
2013 | 33,669 | 37 | 0.1% | 155,087 | 591 | 0.4% |
2014 | 35,974 | 26 | 0.1% | 158,984 | 524 | 0.3% |
2015 | 39,035 | 23 | 0.1% | 162,668 | 474 | 0.3% |
2016 | 37,339 | 30 | 0.1% | 149,423 | 495 | 0.3% |
2017* | 25,451 | 24 | 0.1% | 105,558 | 319 | 0.3% |
* data to September 2017
This can be further broken down by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service region:
|
| Crown Courts | Magistrates’ Courts | ||||
Year | Region | Number of trials | Adjourned due to interpreter availability | % of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability | Number of trials | Adjourned due to interpreter availability | % of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability |
2012 | London | 10,632 | 16 | 0.2% | 35,410 | 270 | 0.8% |
| Midlands | 5,425 | 4 | 0.1% | 26,570 | 94 | 0.4% |
| North East | 5,450 | 3 | 0.1% | 22,532 | 59 | 0.3% |
| North West | 5,334 | 3 | 0.1% | 23,909 | 58 | 0.2% |
| South East | 6,654 | 5 | 0.1% | 26,236 | 95 | 0.4% |
| South West | 3,310 | 2 | 0.1% | 13,850 | 18 | 0.1% |
| Wales | 1,827 | 1 | 0.1% | 8,164 | 14 | 0.2% |
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2013 | London | 9,151 | 14 | 0.2% | 36,866 | 259 | 0.7% |
| Midlands | 4,878 | 6 | 0.1% | 25,170 | 102 | 0.4% |
| North East | 5,067 | 6 | 0.1% | 23,088 | 74 | 0.3% |
| North West | 4,625 | 3 | 0.1% | 21,783 | 40 | 0.2% |
| South East | 5,614 | 5 | 0.1% | 26,834 | 76 | 0.3% |
| South West | 2,718 | 3 | 0.1% | 12,850 | 27 | 0.2% |
| Wales | 1,616 | 0 | 0.0% | 8,496 | 13 | 0.2% |
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2014 | London | 9,202 | 11 | 0.1% | 35,715 | 222 | 0.6% |
| Midlands | 5,156 | 3 | 0.1% | 27,397 | 87 | 0.3% |
| North East | 5,498 | 3 | 0.1% | 22,572 | 65 | 0.3% |
| North West | 5,219 | 1 | 0.0% | 22,747 | 38 | 0.2% |
| South East | 6,390 | 7 | 0.1% | 27,892 | 78 | 0.3% |
| South West | 2,947 | 1 | 0.0% | 14,283 | 28 | 0.2% |
| Wales | 1,562 | 0 | 0.0% | 8,378 | 6 | 0.1% |
| |||||||
2015 | London | 10,161 | 4 | 0.0% | 36,743 | 175 | 0.5% |
| Midlands | 5,532 | 1 | 0.0% | 27,722 | 78 | 0.3% |
| North East | 5,504 | 3 | 0.1% | 22,697 | 43 | 0.2% |
| North West | 5,448 | 1 | 0.0% | 22,335 | 48 | 0.2% |
| South East | 7,357 | 7 | 0.1% | 29,671 | 87 | 0.3% |
| South West | 3,286 | 6 | 0.2% | 15,303 | 34 | 0.2% |
| Wales | 1,747 | 1 | 0.1% | 8,197 | 9 | 0.1% |
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2016 | London | 10,055 | 12 | 0.1% | 34,074 | 200 | 0.6% |
| Midlands | 5,389 | 4 | 0.1% | 28,295 | 75 | 0.3% |
| North East | 5,444 | 2 | 0.0% | 21,553 | 61 | 0.3% |
| North West | 4,943 | 1 | 0.0% | 20,307 | 52 | 0.3% |
| South East | 6,986 | 8 | 0.1% | 26,173 | 75 | 0.3% |
| South West | 2,802 | 2 | 0.1% | 11,396 | 27 | 0.2% |
| Wales | 1,720 | 1 | 0.1% | 7,625 | 5 | 0.1% |
| |||||||
2017* | London | 6,596 | 7 | 0.1% | 22,922 | 134 | 0.6% |
| Midlands | 4,183 | 3 | 0.1% | 19,572 | 41 | 0.2% |
| North East | 4,056 | 4 | 0.1% | 14,747 | 27 | 0.2% |
| North West | 3,393 | 3 | 0.1% | 15,528 | 48 | 0.3% |
| South East | 4,944 | 4 | 0.1% | 18,751 | 35 | 0.2% |
| South West | 2,093 | 3 | 0.1% | 8,504 | 24 | 0.3% |
| Wales | 1,186 | 0 | 0.0% | 5,534 | 10 | 0.2% |
* data to September 2017
The department continues to monitor its language service services contract closely with the suppliers to drive improvements and reduce the cost on the taxpayer.