Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to the NHS on its obligation to provide interpreter services.

The provision of language support, including interpretation and translation, is driven by the requirement for all National Health Service organisations to comply with the public sector equality duty. As public sector organisations, NHS bodies have a duty to ensure that all people have equal access to the information and services that they provide.

The provision of interpretation and translation services by NHS bodies is a matter for local determination based on the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.

Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 also requires those who provide a service to the public or a section of the public to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a ‘substantial disadvantage’ compared to non-disabled people, this includes communication and provision of information.

As part of their commitment to improving the experience of patients using NHS services, empowering people to be equal partners in their own care and help reduce unacceptable variation in the quality of reasonable adjustments, NHS England is developing an Information Standard for the provision of accessible, personalised information.