For a fifth of the population of Peterborough, English is no longer their main language, says a report prepared for the city council. The figures are contained in a report prepared for tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting which will be recommended to approve a £258,000 year contract to provide interpretation and translation service.
The population of the city has risen from 183,630 to 215,670 in 2021 and is forecast to grow to 235,160 by 2031.
As of 2021, in Peterborough the percentage of people whose main language is English had decreased from 83.9 per cent in 2011 to 80 per cent (2021).
“The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) highlights that in comparison to the Top 10 Statistical neighbours, Peterborough has the highest population of those whose main language is not English and cannot speak English or cannot speak English well,” says the report.
Cabinet will view a chart showing Peterborough topping a table with Sandford and Wolverhampton in second and third places and Oldham bottom.
Stephen Taylor, executive director adult social care and commissioning, says translation services are part of the council’s public sector equality duty.
He says the annual budget for translation and interpretation services is slowly rising – in 2023/24 the £170,000 budget resulted in an overspend of £22, 382. For this financial year the budget has been set at £258,000.
Mr Taylor advises that Peterborough’s rapidly growing population, and national migration issues, means increased costs.
He says the existing contract with Language Line Ltd, who is recommended to be offered a new four year contract, has been successful “and meets need and demand”.
For example, face to face and pre booked calls rose from 2,258 in 2022/2023 to 2,731 last year.
Another example provided, that of translation, shows there were 194 requests last year compared to 152 the year before.
Top 10 languages identified by the council are:
Polish
Pashto (Afghanistan)
Lithuanian
Kurdish (Sorani)
Romanian
Russian
Portuguese
British Sign
Urdu
French
Under the heading of development and opportunities, Mr Taylor says children’s commissioning are working closely with IT & Digital Services to explore the translation of documents using Amazon Translate “which would reduce the cost of translation of documents significantly.
“This system is currently being tested for accuracy and is actively being explored further.
“Procurement have confirmed that the contract with Language Line Ltd is not exclusive and therefore we do not have to use all of their services and therefore utilising this service would not affect the contents of this paper or the recommendation to direct award to Language Line Ltd”.
Mr Taylor added: “The council has a responsibility to tackle discrimination and advance equality of opportunity under the Public Sector Equality Duty (2011) and section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
“Part of this is ensuring that the provision of information and services is accessible and that residents are communicated with effectively.”
