Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 17 November 2020.
Llywydd, I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for that supplementary question, and, of course, he is right that there are many, many businesses in South Wales Central, and in other parts of Wales, who've looked to the third phase of the economic resilience fund for assistance. In terms of the £200 million lockdown business grants, 22,000 grants, worth over £61 million, have already been paid out. And in relation to the £100 million business development grant aspect, where there were 6,000 applicants on that first day, hundreds of payments have already been made, and millions of pounds have already been paid out. We are, of course, looking to see whether it is possible, by drawing funds from other parts of the ERF where maybe the demand hasn't been so great, or looking to see what possibilities there may be later in the year to supplement the business development grant strand of phase 3 in order to allow other businesses who weren't able to get their application in in that first 6,000 to benefit further from the fund.