A LEADING businessman has blasted a report which dismisses Teesside as an area that could accommodate Government departments.

A report prepared by consultants King Sturge for a review being conducted by Sir Michael Lyons into moving civil service jobs out of London, says that while some parts of the Tees Valley might be suitable for call centre and clerical jobs, only Newcastle is suited to higher level work in policy and science.

Stockton South MP Dari Taylor said the report made her feel "bloody furious".

Alistair Arkley, chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership, said yesterday that the Tees area had all the qualifications needed to accomodate the jobs.

The University of Teesside's School of Computing is recognised as one of the best in the country, said Mr Arkley, while the largest concentration of PhDs in the region work at the Wilton chemical-industrial site near Redcar.

At stake is a share of the 20,000 public sector jobs Chancellor Gordon Brown has pledged will move, to ease pressures in the capital and boost economic growth in the North.

Mr Arkley said: "The manner in which this report has been prepared is not helpful for either the Tees Valley or in providing the Lyons review with a proper picture of the potential of our area.

"For example, the fact that they only looked at locations with a population of 100,000 or more and did not consider the Tees Valley as a whole means that significant parts of the area, including, for example, Darlington and Hartlepool, were excluded altogether.

"The fact is that very many blue-chip companies have chosen to locate to the Tees in recent years and all of them have had a very positive experience.

"One of the crucial tests for relocating Government jobs will be the availability and cost of available accommodation, and I believe that here, Tees Valley's case is unbeatable.'