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Serious Fraud Office: Translation Services

Asked by Sir John HayesConservativeAttorney GeneralTabled Answered 19 November 2025UIN 89380

The question

To ask the Solicitor General, how much the Serious Fraud Office has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.

Answered by Ellie Reeves

Almost all the SFO’s cases are connected to other jurisdictions and often include overseas suspects or witnesses and involve significant amounts of evidential material. This means that it needs to make use of translation services in its work. We regularly monitor expenditure to ensure best value for money for taxpayers.

Its expenditure on translation services is contained in the following table.

2020-21

2021-22

2022-2023

2023-2024

2024-2025

£101,102

£125,082

£168,777

£67,149

£55,393

The SFO has not made use of any interpretation services in the last five financial years.

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