Hazel Blears has urged councils to spend less money on translating their documents into foreign languages.

The communities secretary said on Friday that the cash could be better spent on teaching people to speak English.

She was warning that translating public information creates a language barrier by undermining the integration of non-English speaking residents into their local community.

"Translation can never be a substitute for learning English and we need a fundamental rebalancing of our approach, putting a greater focus on learning English," she said.

"Whilst there may be some cases where translation is appropriate, public bodies should ensure they have common sense strategies in place. Many already do, we need this norm everywhere.

"Automatic translation of all public materials can just reinforce the language barrier, act as a brake on opportunity and make it harder to integrate non-English speaking residents into the country."

The warning is backed up by new guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

It calls for a "common sense" approach to translation across local and national public services, including the health service, police and Whitehall departments.

The guidance says it is a "myth" that public authorities have a legal duty under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 to translate all their material.