Nottinghamshire Police spend £466,701 on language translation in one year

The rising bill for translation services at Nottinghamshire Police has been criticised.
Tony Harper, Conservative Candidate for the Police and Crime Commissioner election in May 2016.Tony Harper, Conservative Candidate for the Police and Crime Commissioner election in May 2016.
Tony Harper, Conservative Candidate for the Police and Crime Commissioner election in May 2016.

Tony Harper, the Conservative candidate at next year’s Police and Crime Commissioner election, has slammed the figures, which show that between June 2014 and May 2015 the force was left with a bill of £466,701 for translating over 50 different languages.

This was an increase of £45,000 from 2013/14 and £82,000 from 2012/12.

Polish was the most expensive language costing £226,911 over the 12-month period - over half the total figure. Other languages included French-Canadian, Amharic, an Ethiopian Language, and Wolof, from West Africa.

Mr Harper said: “I was gobsmacked by these figures and it is especially worrying the translation bill has risen so much over the last two years.

“I feel the current Police and Crime Commissioner is very good at complaining about budgets, but less on top of highlighting areas like this where efficiencies can be made.

“We should be saving money in translation costs so we can invest further in frontline policing and give more resource to our hardworking officers.

“If given the honour of becoming the next Police and Crime Commissioner cutting this cost is something I will begin work on straight away.”