§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what translation services he ensures are available to(a) Benefits Agency and (b) Employment Service staff in (i) England and (ii) Staffordshire. [13498]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownIn both the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service, throughout Great Britain, we will provide an interpreter for customers who do not speak English and who either cannot or do not wish to provide their own interpreter. This service is provided through either a multilingual member of staff; local services, for example, community interpreters, local authority services or colleges; or the telephone interpreting service provided by Language Line.
We also have an internal translation service for translating documents both into English and into foreign languages. This is supplemented by a rapid translation service on a text-to-speech basis when a quick translation of a document in a foreign language is needed. Local offices also have the freedom to use community based translation services if they are available and convenient.