Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 11 November 2020.
Can I thank Caroline Jones for the question and the opportunity that it's given me to assure all businesses, across Wales, that all of those applications for development grant funding will be assessed on a qualitative basis, on merit, and that we will not be awarding money simply on the basis of first come, first served, but on the quality of the applications? That's why we're already rejecting a number of applications, because they were not of sufficient quality or they were not accompanied by the necessary documentation that was outlined in the criteria pages of Business Wales.
I can say that in response to the economic crisis—and this has been unprecedented—in Swansea alone more than 8,500 awards have already been made to businesses through our £1.7 billion package of support, the most generous package of support anywhere in the United Kingdom. Crucially, in regard to a point that was raised by Russell George, the majority of those awards are going to micro and SME businesses that are right at the heart of our communities and local economies. So, our intervention has been unprecedented. It's been aligned and designed to complement the UK Government's furlough and self-employment support schemes. And, of course, as we look to the future round of ERF phase 4, we will be learning from each of the first three phases, as well as from the other funds that have been operated by my colleagues.