Welsh Translation spend

1. How much did your organisation spend in its most recent accounting year for which figures are available on
a. translating written material between English and Welsh

b. providing spoken translation facilities between English and Welsh at meetings and other events.

2. Has your organisation ever carried out an assessment of the extent to which clients/members of the public use the Welsh version of written material you produce and/or benefit from spoken translation facilities?

If so, I would be very grateful if you could provide me with a copy of any relevant documents.

Thank you for your e-mail dated 6th October 2011. I confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold the information you have requested, and we are pleased to provide the following information and respond to each of your questions in turn:

1a. During the 2010-2011 financial year Ordnance Survey spent £1600.45 on translating written material between English and Welsh. This is the net cost as the VAT is accounted for separately.

1b. Ordnance Survey did not spend any money in the most recent accounting year on providing spoken translation facilities between English and Welsh at any meeting or event.

2. We have not carried out any formal assessment of the use of written material in Welsh so are unable to provide any documentation as this information is not held.

However, under our duty to provide advice and assistance (Section 16 FoIA) we do have statistics on the use of the Welsh section of our web site: the Welsh site received 1,472 unique page views in the twelve months to 30 September 2011 while the main site received in excess of 16.4 million views in the same period.

We have not formally assessed the use of spoken translation so are again unable to provide any documentation in relation as this is not held, but we do record the number of calls to our dedicated Welsh helpline: we have had one genuine enquiry in Welsh since letting the contract to the current service provider in September 2009.

Your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. As all the requested information has been provided, we have determined that in all the circumstances of this case the Public interest consideration (section 17 FOIA) is not applicable in this instance.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: FOI11226/October 2011