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Some 13 positions including manual, technical, administrative and managerial jobs are going at a prominent engineering company. Oxley Developments, which employs around 170 people across three sites, is understood to be considering voluntary and compulsory redundancies at its South Cumbria base just three months after making 31 people redundant.

The Commons transport committee said proposals to shut coastguard centres lacked support and would lead to a loss of local knowledge. Speaking about the concerns, committee chairman Louise Ellman said the committee had no confidence that they would allow the coastguard service to perform as well as or more effectively than it does now.

A council leader’s capacity to govern was called into question after he asked for a wage advance after just a little over a month in the role. James Alexander received £200 after making the request to York City Council last month. Mr Alexander said he had "run out of money".

A leading British sporting body has responded to accusations of its wage bill spiralling out of control. The number of staff employed by the British Olympic Association actually fell in 2010, from 57 to 52, but the wage bill went up by about £400,000.

Latest figures suggest the UK employment market has been creating more net jobs despite the recession. Even though many parts of the public sector have been making cutbacks, overall unemployment has recently declined.

A revised council cabinet line-up will save around £17,000 in the first year alone. The cabinet at Gloucestershire County Council will be reduced from 10 members to eight, with some outgoing members taking on new short-term ‘champion roles’ which will exist only until the end of each particular project.

MP John McDonnell, chair of the Campaign Group of socialist MPs, addressed the University and College Union conference in the light of strikes over budget cuts at colleges.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) calmed down indignation that Paras would lose in budget cuts what is dubbed a ‘danger payment’ for parachute drops. The MoD stressed the Army was still working through the numbers and said no-one would see their pay drop for at least a year after any change.

The only group where private sector pay was higher than public sector pay was for the top 10% of earners, a report reveals.

Police are advising motorists to avoid an area of Newcastle after it was cleared due to a massive yard fire. A number of explosions were reported coming from the scrap depot in Albion Row, in the Byker area. Employee of nearby Quay Timber, Mark Fawcett, said: “All the scrapyard’s alight. We can see flames about 100ft high.

Nokia is getting rid of around 700 UK jobs as part of plans to cut its international workforce by 4,000 within two years. The mobile phone company said the jobs would go by the end of next year as it looks to reduce costs by one billion euros. In addition, 3,000 jobs will be affected globally by a move to outsource its Symbian software operations to Accenture.

Unite leader Len McCluskey said the settlement of a long-standing industrial dispute with British Airways was “honourable”. The union said BA had agreed to restore travel concessions to staff who went on strike and award a two-year pay deal worth up to 7.5 per cent.