AQW 28723/22-27

Mr Timothy Gaston
Traditional Unionist Voice
North Antrim

Tabled Date: 13/06/2025
Answered On Date: 20/06/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the total cost of interpreters to the education system in each of the last five years, broken down by language.

Answer:

The Education Authority (EA) has provided the following breakdown of the amount spent on interpretation service in the last five years:

2020/ 2021	Languages	Total £44k	2021/ 2022	Languages	Total £97k
1	Arabic	£13,887	1	Arabic	£23,545
2	Polish	£6,755	2	Polish	£17,880
3	Bulgarian	£4,211	3	Bulgarian	£9,885
4	Romanian	£3,354	4	Romanian	£8,367
5	Lithuanian	£3,152	5	Lithuanian	£6,660
6	Mandarin	£2,320	6	Mandarin	£5,570
7	Portuguese	£2,192	7	Slovak	£5,318
8	Slovak	£2,007	8	Portuguese	£3,727
9	Tetum	£1,367	9	Hungarian	£2,629
10	Hungarian	£826	10	Somali	£2,258
11	Somali	£722	11	Russian	£1,767
12	Russian	£479	12	Czech	£1,162
13	Latvian	£445	13	Tetum	£1,127
14	Czech	£334	14	Cantonese	£1,032
15	Bengali	£334	15	Latvian	£983
16	Cantonese	£306	16	Bengali	£732
17	Kurd/Sorani	£281	17	Farsi	£639
18	Farsi/Afghan	£154	18	Tigrinya	£595
19	Italian	£140	19	Spanish	£553
20	Spanish	£119	20	Kurd/Sorani	£457
			21	Urdu	£417
			22	Turkish	£396
			23	Farsi/Persian	£339
			24	Italian	£255
			25	Kurmanji	£149
			26	Pashto	£117

	22 Languages under £100			35 Languages under £100

2022/ 2023	Languages	£133k	2023/ 2024	Languages	£132k
1	Arabic	£33,214	1	Arabic	£28,069
2	Polish	£19,442	2	Polish	£19,966
3	Romanian	£11,255	3	Romanian	£11,757
4	Bulgarian	£10,241	4	Bulgarian	£11,294
5	Lithuanian	£8,400	5	Lithuanian	£7,476
6	Mandarin	£7,102	6	Mandarin	£7,137
7	Portuguese	£7,000	7	Portuguese	£6,787
8	Russian	£6,884	8	Russian	£5,498
9	Slovak	£6,054	9	Ukrainian	£5,389
10	Ukrainian	£4,474	10	Slovak	£4,445
11	Hungarian	£4,155	11	Somali	£3,216
12	Somali	£3,600	12	Tetum	£2,883
13	Tetum	£3,186	13	Hungarian	£2,667
14	Czech	£2,293	14	Latvian	£2,268
15	Bengali	£1,719	15	Malayalam	£1,492
16	Latvian	£1,676	16	Tigrinya	£1,338
17	Cantonese	£1,263	17	Farsi	£1,289
18	Spanish	£990	18	Cantonese	£1,266
19	Tigrinya	£980	19	Spanish	£1,199
20	Kurd/Sorani	£828	20	Czech	£1,164
21	Farsi	£761	21	Bengali	£1,015
22	Urdu	£542	22	Kurd/Sorani	£977
23	Farsi/Persian	£503	23	Urdu	£703
24	Turkish	£397	24	Turkish	£680
25	Italian	£318	25	Amharic	£581
26	Hindi	£316	26	FarsiPersian	£347
27	Vietnamese	£274	27	Italian	£285
28	Amharic	£217	28	Pashto	£251
29	Pashto	£175	29	Kurmanji	£206
30	Malayalam	£159	30	Dari	£148
31	Kurmanji	£131	31	Greek	£120

	17 Languages under £100			20 Languages under £100

2024/ 2025	Languages	£139k
1	Arabic	£31,496
2	Polish	£18,082
3	Bulgarian	£12,305
4	Romanian	£12,072
5	Mandarin	£8,337
6	Portuguese	£6,390
7	Ukrainian	£5,689
8	Lithuanian	£5,325
9	Russian	£4,793
10	Somali	£4,479
11	Slovak	£3,451
12	Tetum	£2,677
13	Hungarian	£2,428
14	Farsi	£1,954
15	Tigrinya	£1,775
16	Cantonese	£1,457
17	Latvian	£1,203
18	Bengali	£1,164
19	Malayalam	£1,125
20	Urdu	£751
21	Turkish	£747
22	Czech	£708
23	Sorani	£612
24	Thai	£579
25	Spanish	£553
26	Dari	£525
27	Hindi	£489
28	Kurmanji	£455
29	Persian	£339
30	Amharic	£264
31	Pashto	£262
32	Italian	£161
33	Tamil	£121
34	Vietnamese	£109

	11 Languages under £100