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.
A meeting has been called ahead of a possible strike held by Birmingham binmen involving workers’ representatives and Birmingham City Council. Officials are desperate to try to resolve the dispute ahead of further action since some city roads have not been cleared of rubbish for four weeks.
Birmingham City Council has sustained the second biggest total of job losses during the last financial period by any local authority.
Ashfield District Council in Nottinghamshire is one of the councils hit worst by central funding budget cuts. Jobs and services are set for a trim by the Labour run body, which will have almost a nine per cent reduction in spending power, the maximum allowable, for either 2011 or 2012/13. A transition grant effectively caps the cut at 8.9%, but the original cut will be used as the baseline for 2012-13 figures.
Birmingham City Council has sent letters to 26,000 employees advising them of possible changes to their terms of employment. The non-school workers have been consulted about accepting flexible working contracts. The council said the move would not result in anyone being made redundant and added that its aim was to increase efficiency.
Redundancies at Notts Police have not been ruled out because of a reduced budget from central government. The autumn’s comprehensive spending review revealed how spending on policing will be curbed by 20 per cent over the next four years. Detailed plans on possible redundancies are due to be put before Notts Police Authority at its meeting on Wednesday, December 15.
Merger plans could result in one hundred jobs disappearing in Herefordshire public services. The scheme involves some care services shared across Herefordshire Council, the primary care trust and county hospital. Council leader Roger Phillips said the authority’s aim is to combine services where possible, and not cut them.