§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 11 December (WA37) concerning appointments to the Irish Agency, whether the Ulster-Scots Agency asked the appropriate departments to process four-and-a-half posts in 81WA July; and why the Ulster-Scots Agency was not afforded the same treatment in terms of access to the North/South Ministerial Council as the two posts for the Irish Agency. [HL753]
§ Lord Williams of MostynIn July 2002 the Ulster-Scots Agency advised the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure that it wished the Business Development Service (BDS) to develop an organisational structure involving initially a review of four core administrative posts. BDS. on 2 October, recommended a structure involving four-and-a-half core administrative posts.
The necessary departmental approvals for these posts were not obtained in time for the matter to be considered at the North/South Ministerial Council meeting on 9 October 2002.
For the reasons explained in my Answer of 11 December 2002 (WA37), the timing of departmental approvals enabled the two posts for the Irish Language Agency to be considered at the North/South Ministerial Council meeting on 9 October 2002. NSMC approval of the posts in the Ulster-Scots Agency would have been sought at that meeting had the matter then been sufficiently far advanced.