13/03/2013

ANOTHER WAY SAVE OUR MONEY


There was an interesting article in The Telegraph; to which Tameside council bosses and some of their ‘hard working career councillors’ might like to make note when they’re next scratching their heads, looking for sensible ways to save money.

Instead of ‘going through the motions’ and prancing around Dukinfield brandishing a ‘Nifty Nabber Grabber’ and placcy bag, councillors may be better employed pondering the words of  Eric Pickles MP, the Minister for Local Government.


In the article, the Communities and Local Government secretary said translating documents was a “very expensive and poor use of taxpayers’ money”.


Mr Pickles told MPs in the House of Commons he was concerned that the costs were being driven by human rights and equality laws and actually served to divide communities rather than unite them.


Independent figures show that local authorities spend nearly £20million a year translating documents into a variety of different languages.


Mr Pickles said: “Some local authorities translate a range of documents and other materials into languages spoken by their residents, and provide interpretation services.


“Whilst there may be rare occasions in which this is entirely necessary – for instance in emergency situations, I am concerned that such services are in many cases being provided unnecessarily because of a misinterpretation of equality or human rights legislation.”


He added: “Stopping the automatic use of translation and interpretation services into foreign languages will provide further incentive for all migrant communities to learn English, which is the basis for an individual’s ability to progress in British society.


“It will promote cohesion and better community relations. And it will help councils make sensible savings, at a time when every bit of the public sector needs to do its bit to pay off the deficit left by the last administration.”


Now I don’t know if readers are aware, but according to the council’s web-site, Tameside Council has access to a bank of Interpreters covering over 140 different languages. Anyone with a query can ring the council with their needs and an interpreter will be arranged, well versed in their required language; all within 90 seconds of their call!



The council also boast that they also have officers with Gujarati, Bengali and Urdu language skills based at Ashton Town Hall and officers with Bengali skills at Hyde Customer Service Centre.



Now that’s all very well, but translation services don't come at the expense of those who need them, they come from the pockets of the taxpayer. And seeing as this Labour council now seem intent on screwing even more money out of us by upping the council tax by 3.5%, they’d better start showing us that our council officers and our councillors can develop and provide really creative, effective business solutions, and start implementing those efficiently for all of Tamesides' citizens, before the next round of local elections.

8 comments:

  1. Death by ballot box3/13/2013 5:32 pm

    Labour don't need to try too hard as they know the deadhead electorate will almost certainly return them comfortably. The dreadful Tory opposition (fancy standing Paterson against Miah in Hyde Werneth last year, talk about asking for a thrashing) make life even easier for Labour.

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  2. “Stopping the automatic use of translation and interpretation services into foreign languages will provide further incentive for all migrant communities to learn English, which is the basis for an individual’s ability to progress in British society."

    If I had the good fortune to live in a country that was generally law abiding with decent citizens (and I don't mean the UK with that statement, as it obviously does not apply), my first priority would be to learn the language.

    Bill
    http://walksintameside.co.uk

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  3. My rough calculations put the cost at around £10k per authority. Not inconsequential for sure, but hardly bank-breaking. I can think of far bigger wastes of cash than this. They probably spent a larger amount buying stationary before most authorities implemented a moratorium on non-essential purchases.

    Moreover, the 'I don't use it so why should I pay for it' arguments are sometimes a slippery slope. I've never been in hospital, never required a home carer and I no longer have any use for our education system, but I'm happy to pay for those who do need these services.

    I note yet again a clouding of the debate in this area, with the Express recently leading on 'One Million Can't Speak English', missing the detail that the Census question was purely the answer on FIRST language and that only a small fraction (1/10) of these million people spoke no English whatsoever. (Moreover, I'd be interested to see how many Brits who moved to Spain can't yet speak fluent Spanish, and I'd love to see the reaction if a Spanish politician demanded that these Brits learnt the national language and stopped ghettoising themselves in greasy spoons watching Eastenders.)

    However it's something that gets people riled up quite effectively. This is why it makes sense for Pickles to be seen to be saying that 'something must be done ™'.

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  4. I have been pondering on a move to Russia for geopolitical reasons, I would not dream of setting foot on Russian soil (with the intention of living there) without having a good grasp of the language. I think that is a distinctly European value as it seems alien to all other races.

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  5. I addressed the issue of leaflets and posters in foreign languages some time ago. I noticed that leaflets advertising "something for nothing" were multi-lingual but leaflets or posters giving orders were only in English.

    see:- http://tamesidecitizen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/tameside-supreme-soviet-diktat-no1.html

    @death by ballot box. I have noticed some VERY odd and self defeating moves by the Tameside Tories. So many in fact that if I were a Tory I would be loooking for a "mole" whose loyalty was suspect.

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  6. No comparison3/16/2013 4:48 pm

    @ Anonymous 09:59, to compare a few thousand well off British, mostly pensioners, living in their own communities in Spain with the massive and exponentially growing (check out the demographic growth for their under ten year olds in particular if you WANT the truth) alien colonies in Britain is utterly ludicrous.

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  7. @ No Comparison

    "...alien colonies..." Nail hit squarely on head sir. These are not immigrants they are colonists. And I claim indigenous rights. The white peoples of these islands have been resident here longer than the Maoris in New Zealand or the Xhosa in South Africa.

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  8. No comparison3/17/2013 1:58 pm

    According to the UN you can only be an indigenous people if you are a MINORITY. So on our current course the British indigenous will have to wait a few (and I mean A FEW) years to claim that status. Of course, purely by coincidence, when we're outnumbered it will be virtually impossible to assert our rights in any meaningful way, assuming the new majority allow us any rights at all.

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