§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his estimate is of the annual cost of his Department's bilingual service; and how many people used this service in the latest year for which information is available. [89953]
§ Peter HainMy Department is committed to treating the Welsh and English languages on a basis of equality. It is not possible separately to identify the day-to-day running costs which arise from this.
Most of our translation needs are met by the National Assembly's Translation Unit under the terms of a service level agreement. However, in 2001–02, £4,400 was spent on translation by outside contractors.
No records are kept of the number of people who use Welsh in their dealings with us.