Under Freedom of Information Act 2000, please can you provide the following information regarding language services.
Please confirm your overall spend on interpreting, translation and transcription services for the following financial years:
2021-22
2022-23
2. Who is your incumbent supplier(s) for language services? If you have more than one supplier, which services does each one provide to you?
3. If you have a separate British Sign Language/non-spoken supplier, who is this?
4. If you have a separate transcription supplier, who is this?
5. Do you have any in-house interpreters/translators?
6. When is your current language services contract(s) due to expire, a) without extensions and b) with all possible extensions?
7. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the contract manager responsible for language services?
8. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for your language services budget?
9. Could you please provide the following data for 2023:
Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (spoken language) and hours completed
Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (non-spoken language) and hours completed
Total number of telephone interpreting calls and minutes completed
Total number of video interpreting calls (spoken language) and minutes completed
Total number of video interpreting calls (non-spoken language) and minutes completed
Total number of document translations and words translated
Total number of audio transcriptions and total audio duration
10. What were your top 20 highest-volume languages for interpreting/translation requests in 2023?
11. Can you please provide the fill rate % you received for the following services in 2023:
Face-to-face interpreting
Telephone interpreting
Video interpreting
Document translation
Audio transcription
12. What languages has your provider been unable to source in the last 12 months?
13. Have service credits been applied on your language services contract in the last 12 months? If so, what performance failure was this linked to?
14. What social value has been delivered as part of this contract in the last 12 months?
15. If your contract was awarded through a tender process, can you please provide a copy of the winning bidder’s tender?
16. What are your contracted rates for each of the following services?
Spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate
Non-spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate
Telephone interpreting: per minute rate
Spoken video interpreting: per minute rate
Non-spoken video interpreting:
Document translation: per word rate
Audio transcription: per audio minute rate
17. Has your provider of language services increased their charge rate to you in the last 12 months?
18. What is the Authority’s typical route to market?
19. Does the Authority currently have any interpreter on wheel devices as part of their current contract? If yes please advise how many and if these are provided free of charge or paid for by the Authority.
20. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person in charge of procurement for the Authority?
Thank you for your recent request.
Under Freedom of Information Act 2000, please can you provide the following information regarding language services.
Please confirm your overall spend on interpreting, translation and transcription services for the following financial years:
2021-22 £429,975
2022-23 £431,117
2. Who is your incumbent supplier(s) for language services? If you have more than one supplier, which services does each one provide to you?
3. If you have a separate British Sign Language/non-spoken supplier, who is this?
4. If you have a separate transcription supplier, who is this?
For questions 3, 4 and 5; Public Health Wales do not hold this information. You will need to contact NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). COntact details are provided at the end of this response.
5. Do you have any in-house interpreters/translators?
No
6. When is your current language services contract(s) due to expire, a) without extensions and b) with all possible extensions?
Public Health Wales do not hold this information. You will need to contact NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). Contact details are provided at the end of this response.
7. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the contract manager responsible for language services?
We do not have a general language manager; however, we do have a Welsh language manager. You can contact our Welsh Language team by emailing Welsh.PHW@wales.nhs.uk
8. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for your language services budget?
The Trust doesn’t have one defined budget holder responsible for language services. Budget holders are provided budget to spend on goods and services required to deliver the Trust’s objectives. There will be many different teams across the Trust who need to use interpreting, translation and transcription services and so there will be many budget holders approving this type of expenditure.
9. Could you please provide the following data for 2023:
Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (spoken language) and hours completed
Total number of face-to-face interpreting assignments (non-spoken language) and hours completed
Total number of telephone interpreting calls and minutes completed
Total number of video interpreting calls (spoken language) and minutes completed
Total number of video interpreting calls (non-spoken language) and minutes completed
Total number of document translations and words translated
Total number of audio transcriptions and total audio duration
10. What were your top 20 highest-volume languages for interpreting/translation requests in 2023?
11. Can you please provide the fill rate % you received for the following services in 2023:
Face-to-face interpreting
Telephone interpreting
Video interpreting
Document translation
Audio transcription
12. What languages has your provider been unable to source in the last 12 months?
13. Have service credits been applied on your language services contract in the last 12 months? If so, what performance failure was this linked to?
For questions 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13; Public Health Wales do not hold this information. You will need to contact NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). Contact details are provided at the end of this response.
14. What social value has been delivered as part of this contract in the last 12 months?
Decarbonisation
NHS Wales wishes to reduce the carbon footprint of its supply chains with the aim of being net zero carbon by at the latest 2030. Please provide an overview of how your organisation is working towards reducing the carbon impact of its activities and provide a roadmap detailing how this will progress.
The evaluation panel would expect to see evidence of;
- How measures and protocols the bidder employs minimises their Carbon Footprint.
- How the bidder aims to further reduce it's Carbon Footprint over the life of the contract, including any KPIs or policies that will be used to achieve and evidence this.
Foundational Economy
Welsh Government has tasked procurement functions across the Public Sector in Wales with, where viable, developing the Foundational Economy across Wales. Welsh Government aim to support the Public Sector in Wales to use and strengthen local supply chains and to look at developing social value within procurement. Please could you advise how you can help NHS Wales in achieving Welsh Government's requirements for Public Sector bodies in Wales by detailing how plan to use and strengthen local supply chains in Wales throughout the life of the contract.
Additional information on Welsh Government's Foundational Economy aims can be located here: https://gov.wales/foundational-economy and here https://businesswales.gov.wales/foundational-economy?_ga=2.163762492.2079896367.1617722247-1549176257.1617722247
The evaluation panel would expect to see evidence of;
- How the bidder plans to use and strengthen local supply chains in Wales throughout the life of the contract
- How the bidder plans to expand it's plans for the above point during the contract period
- Other ways in which the bidder can help NHS Wales to achieve the objectives Welsh Government have placed on them to deliver foundational economy driven social value through the
procurement of this contract
15. If your contract was awarded through a tender process, can you please provide a copy of the winning bidder’s tender?
16. What are your contracted rates for each of the following services?
Spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate
Non-spoken face-to-face interpreting: hourly rate
Telephone interpreting: per minute rate
Spoken video interpreting: per minute rate
Non-spoken video interpreting:
Document translation: per word rate
Audio transcription: per audio minute rate
17. Has your provider of language services increased their charge rate to you in the last 12 months?
For questions 15, 16 and 17; Public Health Wales do not hold this information. You will need to contact NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). Contact details are provided at the end of this response.
18. What is the Authority’s typical route to market?
The route to market is an open tender advertised via Sell2Wales.
19. Does the Authority currently have any interpreter on wheel devices as part of their current contract? If yes please advise how many and if these are provided free of charge or paid for by the Authority.
20. Could you please provide the name, phone number and email address of the person in charge of procurement for the Authority?
For questions 19 and 20; Public Health Wales do not hold this information. As an organisation we have no jurisdiction over the activities of other NHS Wales organisations. This means we do not routinely have access to the data they produce. You will need to contact NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). Contact details are provided below.
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Making a Freedom of Information Request - NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of the decision, you should write to the Corporate Complaints Manager, Public Health Wales NHS Trust, 3, Number 2, Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, CF10 4BZ.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner for Wales
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 029 2067 8400
Email: wales@ico.org.uk