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Some 23 people have been taken on as Indian manufacturer Tata has started production of electric cars in Coventry. Steve Ocock, manufacturing general manager, told the BBC that most car manufacturers are looking towards electric vehicles. "We are committed to this new technology," he said.

Budget cuts have led to New Clifton police station being scrapped due to budget cuts. Clifton station in Green Lane will be replaced with a station on the site of the former Nottingham City Council-owned Roundabout Youth Centre, Southchurch Drive. Clifton councillor Ian Malcolm said the measure will not make much difference to the public.

A Midlands firm which began with humble origins has now become one to be reckoned with. Cartwright King was formed in 2000 following a buy-out and employed just a handful of staff. Now it has turned itself into a national player and is expanding into other regions.

Auto Windscreens, which operated a network of 68 fitting centres across the UK, and had a distribution centre in Aston, Birmingham, has gone under. More than 1,000 workers have lost their jobs after administrators said that they were unable to save the business.

Workers in the East Midlands were the second most likely to work unpaid overtime at eight hours a week (working 7.5 hours extra), says the TUC. It said that following lay-offs, existing staff are picking up much of the increasing work load through unpaid hours, adding: "There is a serious side to excessive overtime, irrespective of whether staff get paid for it.

Staffordshire Police is set to move headquarters as it is seeking a newer home. The force is situated in Balance Street, which has stood in the town for hundreds of years, but it no longer meets the needs of a modern police force. Sergeant Ian Cantrill from Uttoxeter Police was quoted as saying: “It is an expensive station to run so the police authority is looking at somewhere more efficient.

Birmingham’s economy, which has lost 138,000 manufacturing jobs since 1998, has suffered another big blow with the latest public sector cuts. A report for the council by the independent Centre for Cities think tank, published in December, said the city’s economy had become too dependent on the public sector.

Birmingham City Council (BCC) aims to axe about 2,000 of its 35,000 workforce, as part of a programme to save £75m over the next year. BCC chief executive, Stephen Hughes, said the financial challenges facing local authorities were the worst he had seen in more than 30 years: "The scale of cuts is likely to be of a magnitude that no one has seen,” he said.

An international team of experts, including those from Nottingham University, has found "no discernible" benefit to the GP bonus scheme. The pay system for doctors for hitting certain performance targets was introduced in 2004. It has proved controversial as it has helped push average pay through the £100,000 barrier.

Engineering firm Bosch has emerged as the main player in a bid for UK Government funding to open a new technology plant at Worcester. The giant says it intends to create 1,000 new jobs in the city. The bid has been submitted by the Worcester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), one of a series of public-private initiatives established in England and approved by the government.

Thousands of public sector employees are not set for a happy new year as jobs under threat include social workers, school dinner ladies, meals on wheels providers, refuse collectors, youth workers, and home helps. A spokesman from the union with substantial membership, the GMB, told the BBC some councils, like Northamptonshire County Council, had deliberately delayed sending out letters until after Christmas.

A man was saved from a fire at a workshop while working over a weekend. The 27-year-old was rescued from the first floor of a commercial property in Fazeley Road, Tamworth, which caught fire during late morning in the middle of the man’s Sunday shift. After being affected by smoke he was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for further treatment.