COUNCILS are to be ordered to stop putting money into translation services for immigrants and to encourage them to learn English instead.

A report to be unveiled this week by Ruth Kelly, the communities and local government secretary, will warn that foreigners who settle in Britain are relying too heavily on interpreters, hindering their integration into mainstream society.

An independent commission set up by the government to advise on how to bring communities together will describe failure to speak English as the single biggest barrier.

Experts estimate that local and central government spend about £500m a year translating written material and providing interpreters. The biggest spenders include Whitehall departments, town halls, courts and hospitals. Some councils are providing translations in as many as 15 languages.

A further 3,000 quangos and government-funded bodies such as housing associations purchase translation and interpretation services.

Kelly wants this to stop. Instead employers will be asked to pay for language lessons for workers who have a poor grasp of English. A college course lasting 18 weeks costs about £600.

Kelly has warned that in offering comprehensive translation services to help migrant groups with everything from housing and healthcare to finding work “there is a danger that we have failed to promote independence and inclusion in British society”.

The Commission on Integration and Cohesion is now expected to say that translation services should never be a “substitute” for learning English and that immigrants have a responsibility to speak the language.

Darra Singh, the chairman, is expected to say that people arriving here who fail to learn English risk isolation and separation and should be encouraged to learn the language as soon as they reach Britain, if not before.

His report will warn that if foreigners are not encouraged to take classes at an early stage the chance is quickly lost as they find ways of “getting by” through the use of interpreters, friends or family.

It will highlight immigrants who come to Britain to join their spouses as a particularly important group and suggest they receive English language lessons and tests before arriving.

The report is expected to praise efforts by some employers to provide English lessons to foreign workers and call for more such schemes.

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