Scottish Government spend on translation and interpretation services: FOI release

Information requested

1. Estimated or actual total spend across Scotland on translation and interpretation services for asylum seekers and refugees in the last three years.

2. Breakdown by service area (housing, health, education, social care, policing).

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested

You asked for estimated or actual total spend “across Scotland”, unfortunately we are unable to quantify all spend ‘across Scotland’ as we do not hold data on spending by local authorities and other organisations that are not a part of Scottish Government or it’s agencies and non-ministerial
departments.

Immigration is a reserved matter and the provision and funding for asylum support including translation services across the UK is primarily the responsibility of the Home Office.

You may wish to contact the Home Office to find out whether there is any information which they would be able to provide regarding asylum seekers. You can email their FOI team  at foirequests@homeoffice.gov.uk

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

I can however provide you with financial data on Scottish Government spend on refugee policy programmes.

The table below provides details of spending on translation and interpretation services incurred by the Directorate for Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights on their programme of policies across the last three years and relevant spending to support displaced people from Ukraine.

As this is financial data it is aligned to financial year format, rather than calendar year, so for example “FY 2025/26” would mean the period April 1st 2025 through March 31st 2026.

Financial Year	Spend
FY 2025/26	£20,109.08
FY 2024/25	£38,002.25
FY 2023/24	£24,505.44

Finally also asked for a breakdown of translation and interpretation spend for people seeking asylum and refugees across other services (eg health, education, policing).

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with that breakdown as the Scottish Government’s financial records on translation and interpretation service spend by other Directorates across Scottish Government for policy areas such as health and education etc do not record who the intended audience of the work was. It is therefore impossible to determine if costs related to refugees or people seeking asylum. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.