The cost to taxpayers of providing translators in Scottish courts has quadrupled in the past six years, it was revealed yesterday.

In the last financial year £826,728 was spent providing translators for defendants, compared with £198,896 in 2003/04. The figures were provided by the Scottish Courts Service.

Glasgow and Strathkelvin had the highest costs and saw £99,464 spent in the last financial year compared with £47,898 in 2003/04, with a peak of £103,319 in 2006/07.

In Edinburgh the figure rose from £14,248 in 2003/04 to £92,670 in 2007/08, with a rise in Aberdeen from £2338 to £70,960 over the same period.