Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much NHS England spent on translation and interpretation services for hospital patients in each of the last five years.

We do not hold this information centrally. National Health Service organisations have a duty to follow equalities legislation. This includes making sure their communities can understand information about the NHS services and that patients and clinicians can communicate with each other. We encourage the NHS to be efficient and save money by working together and sharing resources.