Minister, can I thank you for your statement and the constructive way that you have been working with opposition spokespeople? You mention that you are urging the UK Government Ministers to involve you in discussions, and I wonder if you've also extended an invitation to UK Government Ministers to be involved in your discussions in terms of the next phase of the economic resilience fund.

I am particularly pleased that you've given a date for the next phase of the economic resilience fund, but I'm a bit disappointed why it's so far off. I've been telling businesses that have been contacting my office, some on a daily basis, that 'It's coming soon.' That was three or four weeks ago. The next fund, if it's not available for the middle of June, that's three, four weeks away yet, and if applications are not open until the end of June, I think that's a long time for businesses to wait. Is there any way at all that you can bring that forward and perhaps explain the rationale about why that date is there? 

You've also said, and perhaps you can clarify this, that people will be able to prepare their applications in advance of the fund. What I don't understand is how they can do that if they don't know what the eligible criteria are. And if the checker isn’t available until the middle of June, how on earth can they apply in advance if that's the case?

In regard to VAT, you've specifically said that this is for limited companies only. This was a big concern raised by businesses: if they're not registered for VAT, they're not eligible. There are very few businesses that are limited that are not registered for VAT. The businesses that were raising these concerns are almost certainly not going to be VAT registered and you will be aware of the gaps. If you can give us any more indication about those gaps in business support that will be phased by phase 2, and I'm particularly thinking about businesses that started back in April 2019 that have still not been able to access any funds at all. I wonder if you could give us any hope for those businesses as well.