Bracknell Forest Council has been criticised after revealing it spent more than £74,000 on translation services for non-English speakers.
While councils in England are not obliged to provide translations, they must ensure effective communication and access to services, which can mean offering translation support.
Cllr John Edwards (Reform UK) has been probing the council’s role in resettling people from Afghanistan under government refugee programmes. Between 194 and 300 Afghans are staying at the former Grange Hotel in the town centre as transitional accommodation before being resettled across the UK.
A freedom of information request from Cllr Edwards showed the council has spent over £74,000 on translation services. It has been implied the Afghan arrivals are the beneficiaries.
"I've just discovered through FOIs that Bracknell Forest Council has spent over £74,000 on translation services for Afghan arrivals since April. Why is that level of translation needed when residents were told they had served our armed forces as translators? I've also been asking the council, Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Home Office for months now how many actually served our armed forces, but they've refused to release the information. What is going on here? Why are translation services needed for translators? How many of the Afghan arrivals actually served our armed forces? And if not many, why was it implied most had? Because right now it's starting to look like the public's admiration for our armed forces was played on to stop debate and push this policy through."
Cllr Edwards argues people who worked alongside the British Armed Forces as translators would know English and so would have no need for translation services.
"Now we know the council has spent £74,000 on translation services for Afghan arrivals, I'll be writing to ask whether they have utilised or even explored far cheaper tools such as Google Translate or AI systems like ChatGPT. These may not be appropriate for every situation, but it is exactly the kind of cost efficiency any private company would at least explore. Taxpayers deserve the same cost discipline that every private business has to live by."
It is important to note that Afghanistan has two official languages: Dari, spoken by approximately 78 per cent of the population, and Pashto, spoken by about 50 per cent of people. The council also has outreach to Romanian, Polish, Indian and Nepalese communities, who may not be English speakers.
The council has been asked to explain the spending on translation services and whether cheaper alternatives could be used. Cllr Edwards sits as an Independent for Owlsmoor on Sandhurst Town Council.
Bracknell Forest Council has been contacted for a statement.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
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