Taxpayers fund huge rise in costs for interpreters

Published on Thursday 3 January 2008 22:27

TAXPAYERS have witnessed a near-fourfold rise in the cost of interpreter services in Scottish courts over the past three years.

Country-wide costs increased by an average of 291 per cent over the last three years. The translation service now costs taxpayers 653,000 a year, compared with 167,000 in 2003-4, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court had the highest percentage increase in costs – with demand increasing 12-fold in the last three years. The court spent 26,000 on providing help for non-English speakers compared with 2,000 in 2003-4.

But Glasgow and Strathkelvin spent the most on providing interpreters for non-English speaking communities followed closely by Edinburgh.

Glasgow's costs rose from 48,000 in 2003-4 to 103,000 pounds last year and over the same period Edinburgh's costs rocketed from 14,000 to 102,000.