Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 11 November 2020.
So, it does certainly look as though a further tranche of support is going to be required later on in the year, and I would, rather than give an indication that the third phase would be potentially reopened, rather state that a fourth phase of the fund is going to be available to businesses. I wouldn't want to create any artificial expectations that the third phase could be reopened. There may be underspend in the development grants fund. If there is underspend in that particular fund, then we would seek to utilise it for the fourth phase. But, as I've said to Andrew R.T. Davies, I'd urge any businesses that took the time to put together applications, with all of the supporting evidence, to hold on to those applications in readiness for the expression of interest mechanism going live on the Business Wales website later this autumn.
We have, of course, already begun the process of awarding funds to businesses seeking development grants. I've already identified, I think, in committee, some really good examples of businesses that submitted successful applications. And so far, as part of the ERF phase three, a total of 14,000 awards have been made, amounting to more than £43 million. So, speed is of the essence. We're meeting the demand in terms of speedy payments of emergency cash. But of course I do recognise that demand for development grants was overwhelming, which is why we're learning as fast as we possibly can so that we can shape the next round of support according to what businesses really need.