Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of introducing measures outside of the Pension Schemes Bill to protect the real terms value of pre-1997 defined benefit pension schemes.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise that the absence of indexation on pension rights accrued before April 1997 can erode the value of pensions over time and affect members who rely on these benefits in retirement.
The reforms we have introduced through the Pension Schemes Bill will enable more trustees of well funded defined benefit schemes to share surplus with sponsoring employers, and allow them to negotiate additional benefits for members, including discretionary indexation. More broadly and outside the Pension Schemes Bill, the Pensions Regulator already expects trustees to consider whether members would benefit from a discretionary increase and to take account of any history of making such awards.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2026 to Question 110592, whether his Department has made an estimate of the earliest date nerandomilist could become available to patients after NICE publishes its final guidance.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Subject to licensing, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) currently expects to publish final guidance on nerandomilast in September 2026. In formulating its recommendations, NICE's independent Appraisal Committee expects to hold its first meeting on 15 July. If the Appraisal Committee is able to recommend nerandomilast, NICE would aim to publish its final draft guidance within three weeks of the committee meeting.
If recommended in final NICE guidance, the National Health Service would be required to fund treatment within three months, although some medicines are provided sooner through support from the Innovative Medicines Fund.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms his Department has put in place to ensure that communities are consulted on the use of Pride in Place funding in Worsley and Eccles constituency.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The community will decide how to invest £20m of Pride in Place Funding in Peel Green. A Neighbourhood Board led by an Independent Chair and made up of local people will come up with a plan for this investment and they must engage their wider community.
We have brought forward £150,000 of funding for Peel Green, and all neighbourhoods in Phase Two of the programme, so they can kickstart this engagement now.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the RPI plus 3 per cent interest rate on Plan 2 student loan debt on the ability of graduates earning the UK median wage to begin to pay down their outstanding student loan debt.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plan 2 interest rates vary with income when the borrower has left study and is in repayment. The lower interest threshold, below which borrowers are charged an interest rate of RPI+0%, is currently £28,470. Interest then increases on a sliding scale to RPI+3% for borrowers earning over the higher interest threshold (currently £51,245). This ensures that, post-study, only borrowers earning higher incomes are charged RPI+3 interest.
Student loan repayments are made based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly earnings, not the interest rate or amount borrowed. Outstanding debt, including interest accrued, is cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of outstanding Plan 2 student loan debt in the year the first loans become eligible to be written off; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that debt on Government finances.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The oldest Plan 2 loans will become eligible for cancellation in 2046. For the England-domiciled 2012/13 cohort, the first to receive Plan 2 loans, we forecast a total of £17,036 million in loan balances (including interest) will be cancelled at the end of their 30-year repayment periods.
These cancellations are accounted for at the point of loan outlay. The future cancelled debt is reflected in both the national accounts and the department’s accounts in the year the loan is issued and is then updated annually. It will not result in further losses when the loans reach the end of their 30-year write-off period.
The treatment of student loans in the national accounts is in line the methodology published by the Office for National Statistics and can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/methodologies/studentloansinthepublicsectorfinancesamethodologicalguide.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has an estimate of the earliest possible date Jascayd (nerandomilast) could be available to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Nerandomilast does not currently have a United Kingdom marketing authorisation for use in the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It is currently being evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS.
Subject to licensing, NICE currently expects to publish final guidance on nerandomilast in September 2026.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered the implications of the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal for the potential approval of Jascayd (nerandomilast).
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific consideration of the implications of the United Kingdom and United States’ Economic Prosperity Deal for the approval of Jascayd (nernadomilast) has been made. The changes that we are making to the way in which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evaluates medicines are expected to increase the number of medicines that NICE is able to recommend for National Health Service use. NICE will continue to develop its recommendations on whether individual medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS independently on the basis of the available evidence and through extensive engagement with interested parties.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has undertaken work to identify which additional public services could be delivered face to face through the Post Office network; and whether he has discussed the potential expansion of such services with other departments.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As set out in the Government’s Green Paper, the role of Post Office is changing, fuelled by significant changes in Post Office’s markets. Government will continue facilitating discussions around the future of cash and banking services, as demonstrated by the recent joint discussions held between the Post Office and the banking sector. The Department for Business and Trade will also work across government to explore opportunities to improve and enhance the delivery of in-person government services, and we have established a cross-government working group for this purpose. However, Post Office’s services are ultimately a commercial matter for the organisation and its partners.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of the Post Office network hosting community banking representatives to provide in-person access to more complex banking services.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As set out in the Government’s Green Paper, the role of Post Office is changing, fuelled by significant changes in Post Office’s markets. Government will continue facilitating discussions around the future of cash and banking services, as demonstrated by the recent joint discussions held between the Post Office and the banking sector. The Department for Business and Trade will also work across government to explore opportunities to improve and enhance the delivery of in-person government services, and we have established a cross-government working group for this purpose. However, Post Office’s services are ultimately a commercial matter for the organisation and its partners.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the eligibility criteria for the Graduate Guarantee scheme for newly qualified nurses and midwives in England was determined.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Graduate Guarantee is a workforce measure aimed at improving the access and transition into employment for newly qualified nurses and midwives in England.
It is aimed at ensuring that the 2025 cohort has opportunities to apply for roles across the health and care sector, ensuring that students who qualified in September 2025 and January 2026 will directly benefit. There is no national eligibility criterion, reflecting that employment decisions sit locally with National Health Service trusts and that individuals may choose when to apply following qualification.