Purpose

To request authority to extend a contract in
respect of interpreting and translation language services with DA
Languages Limited as required by Contract Standing Order 112.

Content

That the Director Communications, Insight and
Innovation:
 
i)              
Approves the extension of the contract for the provision of
interpreting and translation language services with DA Languages
Limited for a period of 12 months.

Reasons for the decision

The Council entered into a call-off contract
via the Crown Commercial Services Framework RM6141, Language
Services Lot 5g, for the provision of interpreting and translation
services with DA Languages Limited on 1 June 2022. The contract
contained provision permitting extension of the contract by 12
months. Officers consider extending the contract by 12 months will
achieve best value for the Council and is reasonable in all the
circumstances.

Alternative options considered

Not extending the contract would have an
impact on the work of CYPS, where there is demand for independent
professional interpreters for social work safeguarding assessments,
Family Court proceedings, assessments of Unaccompanied Asylum
Seekers and those with No Recourse to Public Funds. While demand
can be managed in some areas, for example by encouraging customers
to ask family members to accompany them to help with
interpretation, there are many situations in the course of
CYPS’s work where this cannot be done. According to the last
Census (2021), 8% of Brent residents have poor proficiency in
spoken English, the third highest rate nationally.
 
With the Council securing AI licences for the
purpose of pilots, there is the opportunity to use the next 12
months to test how officers might use new technologies to reduce
demand for translation services, prior to re-procuring. If
successful, this could allow the Council to refine the
specification to reduce costs.
 
According to the last Census, 90 languages are
spoken in Brent. The diversity of languages spoken means that the
Council benefits from the range of translators an external provider
is able to provide. Attempting to build an in-house translation
service to match this flexibility is considered to be more
costly.