Wales Interpreting and Translation Service

22 March 2022

Dear

Thank you for your request which I received on 07 March 2022.  You asked:

1. In relation to the Minister for Health and Social Services’ letter of 16th February to Ms Vikki Howells MS (Ref: EM/00624/22) passed to you as originating correspondent to MS Howells for sight of all the relevant papers, emails, telephone records and advice given to the then Minister (the late Carl Sargent AM) regarding the transfer of the WITS programme from Gwent Police to Cardiff City Council.

Our response

I promised to write to you by 1^st April. Following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you require is not held by the Welsh Government. As far as we can determine, the Welsh Government had no involvement in the decision to transfer the Wales Interpretation and Translation Service (WITS) from Gwent Police to Cardiff City Council. No evidence of such a decision existed on our systems prior to the receipt of your letter attached to correspondence from Vikki Howells MS to the Minister for Health and Social Services in January this year.

You may find the attached link to a decision taken by Cardiff City Council to be useful,

Decision - WITS (Wales Interpretation and Translation Service): Transfer of hosting responsibilities from Gwent Police to City of Cardiff Council : City of Cardiff Council (moderngov.co.uk)

You will see that this places the date of activity of a decision to effect the transfer within Cardiff City Council as January 2017. I hope you will find this useful.

Next steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response.  Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at: Information Rights Unit, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ or Email: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.   

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office, 
Wycliffe House, 
Water Lane, 
Wilmslow, 
Cheshire, 
SK9 5AF 

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

Yours sincerely