§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the mission statement for the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure for the years 2003 and 2004; whether it includes the concept of developing cultural understanding and tolerance, and, if not, why not. [HL5I28]
§ Baroness AmosThe business year 2003–04 is covered by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure's (DCAL) current Corporate Strategy 2001–2004. This strategy includes a vision of Northern Ireland as a "confident, creative, informed and prosperous community".
The department is working towards this vision by encouraging cultural understanding and tolerance coupled with a sense of social responsibility and inclusion.
"Promoting and celebrating cultural diversity and individual creativity" is one of six goals contained in the strategy. This goal focuses on contributing to improved levels of understanding of and within our community and on addressing fundamental issues of mistrust, by proactively promoting and celebrating, in partnership with others, the richness of our cultural diversity.
§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much the employment of the economists in the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure costs per year; whether, as a unit of staff, they have submitted a business plan; and how is their performance measured. [HL5511]
§ Baroness AmosThe total annual salary costs for the two economists who work in DCAL is £77k per annum. The economist unit is fully integrated into the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure's balanced scorecard business planning process, and is subject to the same monitoring as the rest of the core department. The unit's staff are also subject to the same personal performance appraisal arrangements as staff in the rest of the core department.