FOI2026/1956

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We would be grateful if the ICB could provide the information set out below.

For the purposes of this request, “interpreting” means the conversion of spoken or signed language between a patient or service user and staff, whether delivered face-to-face, by telephone, or by video (video remote interpreting); “translation” means the conversion of written documents from one language into another.

Q1.  For each of the financial years FY22/23, FY23/24, FY24/25 and FY25/26 (or the most recent available), please state the ICB’s total expenditure on directly commissioned interpreting services, broken down by delivery mode, and state expenditure on written document translation separately.

Q2.  For each of the same four financial years, please state the number of interpreting requests or bookings received, and the number that were fulfilled.

Q3.  Which provider(s) deliver the Trust’s interpreting services, and what was the annual expenditure with each provider for each of the four financial years?

And for each current interpreting contract, please state the date the contract came into effect, its current end date, and whether there is an option to extend (and if so, until when)

Q4.  Through which procurement framework(s) or contract(s), if any, are these services commissioned (for example a regional or ICB-level framework, or a local contract)?

Q5.  For the most recent financial year (FY25/26 or the latest available), what proportion of interpreting expenditure fell within each of the following care settings?

Q6.  Does the ICB have any plans to further expand interpreting provision into additional care settings (for example primary care or community settings)? If so, please indicate which settings, and the projected expenditure by setting and by financial year.

Where possible, we would be grateful to receive the information in an electronic, machine-readable format (for example Excel or a searchable PDF).

If any part of this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under section 12 of the Act, please answer the remaining parts and contact us so that we can refine the scope, rather than refusing the request in full. Where information is already published or available in an existing report, a link or reference is sufficient.

1.    The information held by NHS GM is not held consistently in a format to enable it to separately identify all spend between the different categories of interpreting/translation services specified. The total spend by year however, is included in the table below

 Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a breakdown of costs per activity type.

The contractual arrangements currently are based upon historical arrangements held under the previous 10 Greater Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups. Many of the existing providers hold the information themselves and there are differences / inconsistencies in how their data is provided and contract managed across the 10 localities.

2. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a breakdown of activity for all years. The following is the most recent activity levels we have.

As per the above; The contractual arrangements currently are based upon historical arrangements held under the previous 10 Greater Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups. Many of the existing providers hold the information themselves and there are differences / inconsistencies in how their data is provided and contract managed across the 10 localities.

3. It is important to note that NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board is not a Trust, it is a commissioning organisation. The ICB only funds the commissioning of Interpretation and Translation services for Primary Care as this is delegated funding from NHS England for this purpose. If you require information from the Trust’s regarding how they commission their interpreting services, you will need to approach them directly for this information.
4. When using Frameworks’ the ICB tends to use externally procured Frameworks such as Crown Commercial Services, Shared Business Services.
5. Secondary Care (Acute Trust’s) arrangements for interpreting services are commissioned by the Trust’s themselves; therefore, you will need to approach them directly for this information.

Please see table below:

* Please note, the format the data is held in by NHS GM does not permit us to split the costs between secondary and community care. It is assumed that all of the costs not specifically allocated to primary care or corporate functions are best categorised as Community costs.

6. The ICB already commissions interpreting services for primary care.