I share any concern that people are waiting too long to receive their funding. Most applications to the discretionary assistance fund are processed within 24 hours, so individuals should have the funding within their bank accounts very quickly indeed.

I know that, as of 4 March, there were 278 awards made at £500, and 266 awards made at £1,000, so representing over a total of £405,000. So, I know that DAF is looking at verifying independent claims using data provided by local authorities, so what the individuals really need is for those local authorities to verify and to vouch for the fact that those individual homes have been affected by flooding, and that should be enough for the discretionary assistance fund. So, in the first instance, it would be about the local authority just confirming to DAF that those households have been affected, and then that should make things move more quickly. But of course, I'm keen to provide assistance if I can.