We are closely monitoring progress, I say again that I am acutely aware of the enormously challenging circumstances that businesses are facing—in particular, businesses in Pauline McNeill’s constituency that are recovering from the Sauchiehall Street fire.
We are publishing weekly figures on how many grants have been issued. At close of 28 April 2020, local authorities reported that more than 74,000 applications had been received, and of those applications, 45,000 grants valuing £526 million had been awarded. That is more than 50 per cent.
I understand that Glasgow City Council initially faced some challenges, as did many councils, with the need for people to work from home as well as managing the non-domestic rates system. However, it has scaled up operations significantly in order to get through applications as quickly as possible—it has more than doubled the number of staff who are processing applications.
I have made it clear that I want to see as many businesses as possible receiving grants, because they will be a lifeline. We will try, as far as we can, to fill the gaps. However, the Scottish Government has limited financial levers, so we can fill only so many gaps with the powers and resources that we have. That is why we need to work closely with the United Kingdom Government, which ultimately has the fiscal levers and the ability to provide more consequentials to help even more people.
If Pauline McNeill wants to raise with me anything specific about the businesses that she mentioned and which she believes did not get the grant because of an error, I will happily look at that. As I said, I expect as many businesses as possible that meet the criteria to get support.