Ms Deirdre Mahony:

Chapter 6 includes a set of 11 performance indicators which we hope will be introduced over a period. They are largely quantitative in nature. They are about evaluating the ongoing effectiveness of the Arts Council's investment programme. They count items such as the number of artists and arts organisations supported and the number of new and original works performed and made. They look at detail on audiences, such as where audiences are and whom they comprise.

They will take some time to introduce because not all of the data collection methods are in place, but we have had good engagement with the Arts Council and a commitment to move in that direction. They are quantitative and different from the longer-term piece of work we have spoken about in terms of the societal outcomes of the investment in the Arts Council, which are more qualitative. However, I believe that in the future engagements such as this will be easier because we will have a nice set of indicators to which we can speak.

There was a question earlier on the administrative costs and the good work of the Arts Council in reducing those costs. In fact, of a number of international jurisdictions, the Arts Council had the lowest percentage administration costs of the five jurisdictions examined.