Pauline Latham OBE MP MP has hit out at the Labour led City Council for spending more than half-million pounds on translation and interpretation costs in the last three years.
It follows a Freedom of Information request by Mid-Derbyshire MP, Pauline Latham, which shows a total of £567, 439 has been spent since Labour took over full control of the council in 2012.
The council says the cost encompasses both translation for documents and interpretation with the 2014/2015 spending the highest out of the three years.
The bill for 2014/2015 was £222,288, in 2013/2014 it was £184,263 and previous to that it was £160,888; a rise of over £62,000 during the period.
Common languages interpreted include; Slovak, Kurdish, Urdu, Polish, Punjabi and Dari.
The figures comes after Derby City Council threatened budget cuts of £45m with Ms Latham describing the money spent on interpretation as “extraordinary.”
Pauline Latham said: “This spending is extraordinary. Derby City Council are threatening to close down the Darley Park Concert, the largest open air concert in in the country, switch off the Christmas lights and not put up Christmas decorations but can still spend money on translations services.
“The vast majority of people would prefer the money be spent on things that make Derby a more appealing place to live and work.
“Unfortunately, Derby City Council inappropriately spending money is legendary.”