Hi Steve
I think you will need to write some code somewhere along the line, but maybe not too much. The help texts are not passed through the lang translation system, so one possibility would be to update them so that they are then specify a site-wide lang file which translates some brief identifiers for each block of text into the actual block of text.
Another idea - there is now a module called iform_user_ui_options, which declares little blocks of configuration that a user can optionally choose to apply to every single form on the website. The usage scenario so far has been that a user might choose to use Google or Bing map layers in their profile, then every single map on every page on the whole site can have the presetLayers option set accordingly.
A simple modification to this might allow you to create bits of config that will apply to every control on the whole site (such as a helpText), but where the config is enforced and the user does not have a choice in the matter. Sounds like a nice handy enhancement.
Best wishes
John