Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average lump sum is paid to civil service pensioners.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The average lump sum paid to Civil Service pensioners is £39,732.04, and the average net monthly pension payment is £742.23. Information regarding the average length of time from the date of retirement to the first payment is not currently available through management information reporting; producing this figure would require significant development work to create and validate the necessary reporting capability.
Current service levels are unacceptable, and the Government is taking robust action to hold Capita to account. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones, alongside confirmation that the Government surge team costs will be recovered directly from Capita.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average length of time is from date of retirement to first payment for retired civil service pensioners.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The average lump sum paid to Civil Service pensioners is £39,732.04, and the average net monthly pension payment is £742.23. Information regarding the average length of time from the date of retirement to the first payment is not currently available through management information reporting; producing this figure would require significant development work to create and validate the necessary reporting capability.
Current service levels are unacceptable, and the Government is taking robust action to hold Capita to account. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones, alongside confirmation that the Government surge team costs will be recovered directly from Capita.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average monthly pension payment is to civil service pensioners.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The average lump sum paid to Civil Service pensioners is £39,732.04, and the average net monthly pension payment is £742.23. Information regarding the average length of time from the date of retirement to the first payment is not currently available through management information reporting; producing this figure would require significant development work to create and validate the necessary reporting capability.
Current service levels are unacceptable, and the Government is taking robust action to hold Capita to account. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones, alongside confirmation that the Government surge team costs will be recovered directly from Capita.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of UK participation in the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank on (a) access to finance for UK defence manufacturers and SMEs and (b) investment in UK defence industrial capacity.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK and Canada share a common objective of strengthening Allied defence industrial capacity through closer international cooperation. The Multilateral Defence Mechanism (MDM) and Canada's proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) are intended to address related challenges within the defence industrial ecosystem.
Following the joint-PM statement at the NATO Ankara summit in July, we committed to working closely with our Canadian allies on how the MDM and DSRB can work together, and we continue to do this.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of restoring Assisted Area status to support investment, jobs and economic growth in less economically developed parts of the UK, such as Teesside.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department currently supports Tees Valley Combined Authority, covering the Teesside area, through several existing growth focused funding pots including; Investment Zones, Freeports, and the Local Growth Fund. The department has no current plans to reintroduce Assisted Area Status.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what discussions he has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the proposed acquisition of Electronic Arts by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of that acquisition on the UK video games sector and the data security of UK players.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The department has not assessed the impact of the acquisition or discussed it with the CMA. Responsibility for investigating the impact of mergers and acquisitions on competition falls to the Competition and Markets Authority to determine independently.
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK video games sector. In April we launched the £30 million Games Growth Package, doubling funding to invest in UK games businesses and develop future talent.
The UK General Data Protection Regulation applies to all companies that offer goods or services to individuals in the UK.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in the Tees Valley region were eligible for free school meals in 2023/24 and in 2025/26; how many are expected to be eligible in 2026/27; and what the estimated total value of support provided through free school meals and associated programmes in the Tees Valley will be in 2026/27 compared with 2023/24.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026, including in the Tees Valley region. This will ensure an additional half a million children across the country will receive a healthy, nutritious meal, putting £500 back in families’ pockets and lifting 100,000 children out of poverty.
The department publishes data on eligibility for FSM. Regional data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2025-26. In 2025/26, 37,752 children are eligible in the 5 local authority areas within Tees Valley. Following the expansion of FSM to all on Universal Credit from September 2026, the department expects approximately 51,000 children to be eligible based on data from the Department for Work and Pensions.
We are also improving the eligibility checking system to support schools and local authorities to identify and enrol eligible pupils more efficiently. Schools receive funding for FSM as part of their overall core funding. Additional funding for FSM expansion will be provided through the expansion of the grant.
At a national level, we have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multi-year spending review period to cover additional meal costs.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the ratio of nurses and doctors is in the (a) North and (b) South of England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly statistics showing the size and make up of staff employed in the National Health Service in England, and these include the number of full time equivalent (FTE) doctors and nurses employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards grouped by the seven regional NHS areas. Further information is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of populations resident in the seven NHS England regional areas. Further information is available at the following link:
The above information has been used to create the information in the following table which shows, for each of the seven NHS regions, the number of FTE doctors, nurses, and health visitors from which a ratio of nurses to doctors for different geographies can be calculated as well as a comparison of the ratio of the number of doctors and nurses per 10,000 population:
NHS Region | Doctors - FTE April 2026 | Nurses and Health Visitors - FTE April 2026 | Population Estimate for 2026 | Doctors per 10,000 Population | Nurses per 10,000 Population |
England | 153,389 | 372,636 | 59,137,052 | 26 | 63 |
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South of England | 82,611 | 185,992 | 31,589,383 | 26 | 59 |
London | 31,667 | 67,498 | 9,285,409 | 34 | 73 |
South West | 14,389 | 33,524 | 5,984,273 | 24 | 56 |
South East | 21,160 | 49,998 | 9,384,784 | 23 | 53 |
East of England | 15,395 | 34,972 | 6,934,918 | 22 | 50 |
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Midlands | 27,100 | 70,767 | 11,326,740 | 24 | 62 |
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North of England | 43,678 | 115,877 | 16,220,929 | 27 | 71 |
North West | 20,849 | 56,888 | 7,444,399 | 28 | 76 |
North East and Yorkshire | 22,829 | 58,989 | 8,776,529 | 26 | 67 |
Sources: NHS Workforce Statistics, published by NHS England, and the Population projections for sub-integrated care boards by five-year age groups and sex, England, published by the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on appointing a Chair to the statutory public inquiry into Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the inquiry can begin consultation on its Terms of Reference.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department is fully committed to setting up the Statutory Public Inquiry into the serious harms that have taken place at the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.
The Department has begun work to set up the inquiry, the Inquiry Secretary is in post, and we anticipate announcing the Chair soon. The Terms of Reference are the responsibility of the Chair once in post.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and the Cabinet Office on the proposed acquisition of Electronic Arts by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners; and what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact of that acquisition on the UK video games sector, player data, creative workers and the integrity of the games industry.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK video games sector. In April this year we launched the £30 million Games Growth Package, doubling funding to invest in UK games businesses and develop future talent.
Under competition law, responsibility for investigating the impact of mergers and acquisitions on competition falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s independent competition authority sponsored by the Department for Business and Trade. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers and expertise to investigate the benefits and risks of mergers in relation to competition, including those that may impact the video games sector.