§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the allocation of funding for the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure for 2003–04; how much was spent; and, if there is a difference, what is the reason for such a difference. [HL4265]
§ Baroness AmosThe budget allocation for 2003–04 was £101,256,000. Expenditure incurred during the year was £96,937,000 leaving an underspend of 4.0 per cent or £4,319,000. The major variances were in respect of:
Slippage in central administration due to lower than anticipated costs; slippage on arts projects and library capital projects; delays on executive programme funds projects including soccer strategy, salmon compensation, electronic libraries for Northern Ireland (ELFNI) and electronic catalogues for Northern Ireland (eCATNI); slippage on European Union Programme for Peace and Reconciliation caused by difficulties in obtaining necessary approvals for several large projects; notional costs lower than anticipated and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland additional receipts arising from improved sales.