The TV and Film Industry

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 8 March 2023.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 1:35, 8 March 2023

I think that's a fair challenge, Tom. We've seen a number of small businesses, small industries, that want to grow in Wales, and some of them do find the grant process very difficult. By the very nature of the process, it has to be thorough. We are talking about dealing with public money at the end of the day. We can't just willy-nilly hand over money to organisations that we don't do due diligence on. So, I'm sure you and, I'm sure, the applicants that you're talking to would understand and accept that. But I'm always open to a conversation with any of these organisations about how we can streamline and make the process more user friendly. It's certainly very much the approach that we've taken on the investment review with the Arts Council of Wales—applications to the Arts Council for Wales will be considered by the end of March, but very much part of that review has been about how do we reach out to some of the smaller organisations, and how do we make the process of grant applications far less burdensome that it has been previously. So, I'm very happy to have that conversation with any organisations that feel that their involvement or the application process through Creative Wales is too difficult. And if any of them want to write to me and explain to me their experiences, I'd be happy to look at that.