Language Services (1050A/21)
Request
We would like to request data collated on languages spoken by individuals that have been formally dealt with by West Midlands Police in the 12 months up to March 2020. We have been unable to locate this information in the public domain. However, if you do not hold data for this specific period, we would like what data (i.e. more recent) are available.
Specifically, we would like to request:
– language data held by the West Midlands Police (for victims, witnesses, and suspects) – for example, this could include data collected when suspects are taken into custody.
– the number of requests for interpreter and translation services, outcome (completed/incomplete service requests) and languages requested.
Response
Please find attached our response.
Please note: the data on attachment 1 has been produced by Capita-TI – our primary service provider (I.E. Capita address approximately 97% of our service requirements).
There will be occasions when Capita is unable to accommodate our requirements. In such circumstances we will call upon self-employed interpreters from the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI). Please see attachment 2 for this data.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.