We asked the Department whether some organisations had been excluded from the support offered by the fund and whether certain regions or sectors had been under- represented in the applications.43 We also asked whether it should have a relationship manager function for parts of the sector which it knew less about, such as more commercial organisations.44 The Department reported to us that its arm’s-length bodies had distributed £1.2 billion to 5,000 organisations.45 It told us that success rates for applications were higher outside London and the south-east. ACE pointed out that 70% of successful applications were from outside London and considered that it had made significant investment across the country. The Department was not aware of whether organisations from particular areas did not apply but might have, adding that local cultural significance was an important criterion in assessing bids.46 It said that all applicants that met its financial criteria and cultural significance criteria had received funding.47