§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to celebrate in 2001 the success of the United Kingdom in terms of its cultural diversity. [HL1412]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonPromoting the benefits of our diverse society is a powerful means of tackling racism and is central to our policy on work in this area. We support many initiatives which provide ethnic minority communities with the opportunity to celebrate and share their culture with the wider community. One of the aims of my department's new grant programme Connecting Communities is to support race equality initiatives which publicise and celebrate the achievements and worth of ethnic minority communities and individuals and the positive contribution they make to society. We are consulting about these proposals at present.
A major event in 2001 will be the United Nations World Conference on Racism which is due to take place in South Africa in July. We are currently involved in the planning for this. The agenda has not yet been set but we will wish to ensure that promoting the benefits of multiculturalism is a key theme for the agenda.