Freedom of Information

1 What is the size of the resident population that your organisation serves?

1.1 What percentage of the resident population in the area that your organisation serves are non-native English speakers?

1.2 Does your organisation predict that the number of non-native English speakers living in the area that you serve will increase, reduce or stay the same in the next 5 years?

2 Does your organisation hire any professional written translation or spoken interpreting services to aid communication with people who may have difficulties understanding English?

2.1 If your organisation hires professional translation or interpreting services, for what type of material do you use these services?
(E.g., do you hire professional translation services to translate website content, correspondence, legal documents? Do you hire interpreting services for meetings, interviews, anything else?)

2.2 If your organisation hires professional translation or interpreting services, can you please provide figures for how much was spent by your organisation on these services and what percentage of your total expenditure this amounted to for the last 4 financial years?

2.3 Does your organisation predict that the percentage of spending on translation and interpreting services will increase, reduce or stay the same in the next 5 years?

3 Is machine translation (e.g. a translation app such as Google Translate) used in any way in your organisation?

3.1 If machine translation is used in your organisation, under what circumstances is it used?
(Please specify by whom, in which context, using which tools, and the reason of use.)

4 Does your organisation follow a formal policy approving, prohibiting or regulating the use of machine translation tools in your organisation?

4.1 If your organisation follows a formal policy for the use of machine translation, can you attach a copy of such policy to your response and/or provide a link to where it can be accessed?

5 Has your organisation carried out a risk assessment of possible consequences, for your organisation and/or for the people the organisation serves, from the use of machine translation?

5.1 If your organisation has carried out a risk assessment of the use of machine translation, please can you specify the risks your organisation identified?

6 Do you have an established line of accountability in the event of negative outcomes that may arise from the use of machine translation?
(E.g., an incident caused by misinformation in an important document, or by miscommunication between staff and member of the public using a phone app.)

6.1 If you have an established line of accountability, can you explain how this guides response procedures to a possible negative outcome from the use of machine translation?

7 Is any training provided on the use of machine translation in your organisation?

7.1 If training is provided on the use of machine translation in your organisation, can you please provide an overview of the training offered?

8 Does your organisation have any other procedures in place to adjust your communication strategy for people who may have difficulties understanding English? If so, please explain.

9 If we would like to follow up with your organisation for the purpose of further research relating to translation and/or interpreting in your organisation, could you please provide the most suitable email address to contact?