Libraries NI (formally the Northern Ireland Library Authority) is a library service in Northern Ireland consisting of all libraries in Northern Ireland. It is headquartered at Lisburn City Library and is sponsored by the Department for Communities to provide 'a dynamic focal point in the community and assists people to fulfil their potential'. [1]
In June 2023, it was announced that the service had significantly reduced its budget for buying new books. [2]
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling laws; registering births, deaths, marriages and civil unions; supplying support services to ministers; and advising the government on a range of relevant policies and issues.
The Home Office (HO), also known as the Home Department, is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for immigration, security, and law and order. As such, it is responsible for policing in England and Wales, fire and rescue services in England, Border Force, visas and immigration, and the Security Service (MI5). It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs, counterterrorism, and immigration. It was formerly responsible for His Majesty's Prison Service and the National Probation Service, but these have been transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by those who hold the office of police constable of a territorial police force.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting. Its main offices are at 100 Parliament Street, occupying part of the building known as Government Offices Great George Street.
The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly, situated in Belfast. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement. The executive is referred to in the legislation as the Executive Committee of the assembly and is an example of consociationalist ("power-sharing") government.
The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the United Kingdom and is responsible for Crown copyright.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the second largest in terms of expenditure.
The Ministry of Education is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing the New Zealand education system.
There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has a large broadcasting, film, video games and book publishing industries.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) is a non-departmental public body funded through the Northern Ireland Office but operating independently of government as the national human rights institution (NHRI) for Northern Ireland. It came into existence on 1 March 1999, having been created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom through section 68 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, in compliance with a commitment made by the UK Government in the Belfast Agreement of 10 April 1998. Its powers were amended by the Justice and Security Act 2007.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is a department of the Australian Government with broad-ranging responsibilities; notably, intergovernmental and whole of government policy coordination and assisting the prime minister of Australia in managing the Federal Cabinet. The PM&C was established in 1971 and traces its origins back to the Prime Minister's Department established in 1911.
The Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) is a system of libraries in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, comprising the NHS in England, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales. Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland was created separately and is often locally referred to as "the NHS". The original three systems were established in 1948 as part of major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery—a health service based on clinical need, not ability to pay. Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, provided without charge for residents of the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care. In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges; some, such as those aged over 60, or those on certain state benefits, are exempt.
The Pima County Public Library (PCPL) system serves Pima County, Arizona, with a main library and 26 branch libraries as well as a bookmobile service. The system has its headquarters in Tucson with a service area including the city and the surrounding communities of Arivaca, Green Valley, Sahuarita, South Tucson, Ajo, Vail, Marana, Casas Adobes, and Catalina. The town of Oro Valley's library joined the Pima County Public Library system in July 2012.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and international borders, but it can be tasked to investigate any crime. The NCA has a strategic role as part of which it looks at serious crime in aggregate across the UK, especially analysing how organised criminals are operating and how they can be disrupted. To do this, it works closely with regional organised crime units (ROCUs), local police forces, and other government departments and agencies.
Robert Samuel Swann is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim since 2024. He previously served twice as Minister of Health, first from January 2020 to October 2022 and again from February 2024 to May 2024. Swann was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim from 2011 to 2024. He also served as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2017 to 2019.
The United Kingdom government austerity programme was a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the era of the Great Recession. Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2019 used the term, and it was applied again by many observers to describe Conservative Party policies from 2021 to 2024, during the cost of living crisis. With the exception of the short-lived Truss ministry, the governments in power over the second period did not formally re-adopt the term. The two austerity periods are separated by increased spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first period was one of the most extensive deficit reduction programmes seen in any advanced economy since the Second World War, with emphasis placed on shrinking the state, rather than consolidating fiscally as was more common elsewhere in Europe.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds reasonable and necessary supports associated with significant and permanent disability for people under 65 years old. The scheme was first introduced in 2013 following the "Make It Real" community campaign and advocacy from disability groups. The scheme is administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) as part of the Department of Social Services and overseen by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
Matthew John O'Toole MLA is an Irish nationalist politician, former civil servant, and journalist, serving as leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the Northern Ireland Assembly and leader of the opposition since 2022, and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South since 2020.
"Levelling up" was a political policy first articulated in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto that aims to reduce the imbalances, primarily economic, between areas and social groups across the United Kingdom. It seeks to do so without acting to the detriment of prosperous areas, such as much of South East England. A white paper for the policy was published by Boris Johnson's government on 2 February 2022, and was continued by Rishi Sunak's government. The policy was overseen by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
The Department's vision for the public library service is: 'A flexible and responsive library service which provides a dynamic focal point in the community and assists people to fulfil their potential'
At a meeting in June, chief executive Jim O'Hagan told the board that delivering the "public library standard" for investing in new books would cost £4.3m but that the funding proposed in the DfC budget would allow only £260,000 for book buying.