Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the prevalence of the use of unregistered interpreters in the NHS.

We have not made a specific assessment as the Department does not make policy in relation to interpretation services in the National Health Service. This also includes issuing guidance to NHS trusts on the qualifications required for interpreters and their registration on the National Register of Public Service Interpreters.

The Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Team in NHS England is completing a scoping and options review of the most effective and appropriate national interventions to facilitate improvements in community language translation and interpretation services to meet the needs of communities and support equitable access, experience and outcomes for all. NHS England aims to agree recommendations in March 2024.