To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what (a) programmes and (b) projects have been supported by the Cultural Diversity Branch in each year since it was set up. [123801]

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in pursuing its vision of "a confident, creative, informed and prosperous society" is committed both to promoting a greater respect and understanding of the richness of our cultural and linguistic diversity and to celebrating this diversity. In progressing this objective the Department supported Diversity 21 as a means of examining cultural diversity with a view to promoting deeper understanding and to represent this diversity as a sign of strength in our society. Diversity 21 provided the means of promoting cultural diversity work already happening; identifying and delivery of new projects aimed at stimulating the imagination and exploring diversity in an open, creative and accessible way; and providing a cultural diversity grant funding scheme. Since April 2001 the Department has supported a schedule of exhibitions on language, faith and history in Northern Ireland and the wider Commonwealth, to a number of organisations and community groups throughout the Province; a programme of workshops on the different drums of Northern Ireland; and Intercom 21—a contemporary music project which used music as a means of exploring diversity. In addition the Department under the Diversity 21 funding programme supported a range of community based projects. These included: