To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what resources have been put in place by each Northern Ireland Department to implement the Racial Equality Action Plan. (82379)

Northern Ireland Departments, the Northern Ireland Office and the Police Service for Northern Ireland will spend at least £7.5 million per annum (£6 million in programme expenditure) in support of the key aims of the Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland.

Some of the key actions from the Racial Equality Strategy Implementation Action Plan include: £3.2 million towards supporting English as an additional language; almost £1.1 million across all Departments to support Irish Travellers; and £0.7 million per annum to encourage capacity building within minority ethnic communities and to assist integration.

This remaining costs figure includes where Departments have allocated staff resource to implementing the strategy. The staff estimate includes those staff processing migrant worker national insurance applications and where each Department has appointed a “Racial Equality Champion” from within their senior managers to direct the implementation of the strategy within their respective Departments including actions contained in the Racial Equality Implementation Action Plan.