Grants from the eRGF can be awarded at "any appropriate time", Fallon said in a written ministerial statement. He said that this would allow the Government to respond quickly to "specific economic opportunities or shocks" in order to ensure that growth in the most vulnerable parts of the country is maximised.
Funding will be granted from the eRGF outside the normal RGF bidding process. However, applications will still be subject to the same level of appraisal, including independent scrutiny.
"In the absence of an open competition, eRGF cases will be benchmarked against similar bids from previous rounds to assess their relative value for money. In each case ministers will also seek independent advice before approving eRGF support," Fallon said.
Fallon said money from withdrawn bids from previous RGF rounds would be used to fund the eRGF, thereby ensuring that the RGF funds would continue to be spent on RGF objectives.
Fallon confirmed that 45 bids from previous rounds have been withdrawn. He said that the withdrawal of a small proportion of bids is to be expected "given the robustness of the contracting process".
The first three rounds of the RGF allocated £2.4 billion, which the Government has said will leverage over £13bn of private sector investment and create or safeguard over 500,000 jobs. The fourth round was opened last month.
