asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they again propose to involve transitional funding in the allocation of funding to festivals in Northern Ireland in 2007. [HL2920]

Yes. My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Culture, Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland (Maria Eagle) announced in a press release on 15 December 2006 on the arrangements for the Community Festivals Fund for 2007-08 that a contingency had been set aside for the possibility of a reduced level of transitional funding for specified festivals in 2007.