Translation services 'must be axed to force immigrants to learn English'

Miss Kelly said the £100million of taxpayers' money spent every year on interpretation was being used as a "crutch" for foreigners to fail to integrate into British society.

Some councils offer translation in as many as 15 foreign languages, allowing migrants to avoid speaking English altogether.

A report this week will warn that the failure by migrants to learn English is the single biggest barrier to integration.

Separate figures show that police forces have spent a record £25million on foreign language interpreters in the last 12 months, £4million than the previous year - leading to warnings of cutbacks to frontline crime-fighting.

The report by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, set up by Miss Kelly's department to advise how to bring communities together, is a tacit admission that Labour's policies are failing.

Chairman Darra Singh will say that foreigners who "get by" through reliance on interpreters and family risk isolation and separation, which in turn act as a breeding ground for extremism.

Migrants should be encouraged to learn the language as soon as they reach Britain, if not before.

Public funding for "routine" translation will be cut and instead employers will be asked to pay for language lessons, typically £600 for an 18-week course, for workers who have a poor grasp of English, the review will say.

Miss Kelly said interpretation had been used "too frequently" and could become a "crutch" which discouraged integration.

Some councils were guilty of handing out money to particular ethnic or cultural groups instead of using community centres to bring people together, she warned.

She told BBC1's The Politics Show: "I think speaking the language is absolutely key.

"Something the commission looked at specifically is whether we should be translating from English into different languages as a matter of routine.

"They are going to put out guidance for local authorities where local authorities can ask really hard questions about whether or not we're providing a crutch and supporting people in their difference, or whether translation is being used in the appropriate circumstances.

"I do think translation has been used too frequently and sometimes without thought to the consequences.

"So, for example, it's quite possible for someone to come here from Pakistan or elsewhere in the world and find that materials are routinely translated into their mother tongue, and therefore not have the incentive to learn the language."

The commission will propose compulsory national or community service for migrants, but Miss Kelly said there were "real practical issues" with making it compulsory.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "This is an attempt, albeit overdue, to deal with a very real problem. This is why in January we proposed that the Government should redirect some of the money it currently spends on translation into additional English classes.

"It is also why two weeks ago we said that people coming into this country to get married should have basic language skills so that they can play a full part in British life."

Besides Whitehall and local government, some 3,000 quangos and Government-funded bodies such as housing associations spend public money on translation services.

Gloucestershire Chief Constable Tim Brain warned that the cost of interpreting in police forces in England and Wales could affect staffing levels.

He added: "If the police are meeting many more people whose first language is not English and who are not certain of their use of the English language, whether they are victims of crime, witnesses or suspects, we will need to use interpreters more. Costs will rise as a result.

"There are likely to be more pressures on these specialist police costs over the next few years as demand continues to rise."