An application was submitted by the theatre company concerned for ACCESS funding. All eligible applications were evaluated by an independent committee established by me for that purpose. As the application in question was not among those recommended to me by the committee, it was not successful. Only applications recommended by the independent committee were considered by me for the purposes of grant allocations. Total funds available for ACCESS come to £36 million, while applications were received for grant aid totalling £224 million. Difficult decisions therefore had to be made, with many worthwhile projects having to be refused.