BBC Business News

GKN chief executive Anne Stevens is giving evidence before MPs on the Business Committee who want to find out more about a possible takeover by Melrose.

She makes some interesting comments about GKN's problems last year when it was forced to issue a profit warning after difficulties at its aerospace plant in North America.

She said that due to cost cutting, GKN's North American plant had been "destabilised" and produced products that could not be shipped. Those products were kept, but the company was "over-optimistic" that those products could be reworked and shipped to customers.

The person in charge of that operation "is no longer with the company", Ms Stevens

You can follow live updates on our Business Live page.

Female employees at West Midlands Police are paid, on average, 8% less then men, the force has revealed., external

Image source, West Midlands Police

UK companies with 250 or more employees must publish their gender pay gap data by April 2018.

Across the UK, men earned 18.4% more than women in April 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics , external(ONS).

The force gave a number of reasons for the disparity including:

• There are more men than women in higher graded / paid positions
• Within all ranks / grades men typically have longer service and are therefore higher up the pay range for the grade
• More men are full time and therefore have greater access to additional payments such as weekend and shift working, standby payments

It said the force had introduced a number of initiatives to deal with the discrepancy.

The couple said it is "disrespectful" of the council to ask them to leave the family home.

Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Jack Butland says the competition to be England's number one at the World Cup this summer "can only be a good thing" and is motivating him to be at his very best.

With Joe Hart out of favour with West Ham, he is among a number of players hoping to be Gareth Southgate's starting goalkeeper, including Everton's Jordan Pickford and Burnley's Nick Pope.

Image source, Getty Images

England play their first World Cup match, against Tunisia, on 18 June.

Images of demolition work to create 300 homes on a Wolverhampton estate have been released.

Image source, City of Wolverhampton Council

The work at Chervil Rise in Heath Town will see the removal of garages, a disused underground car park and 36 maisonettes.

Image source, City of Wolverhampton Council

The Heath Town estate was officially opened in April 1969 by Princes Margaret.

Detailed planning applications for the new development are being worked on, said the council.

A teenager died at the scene despite bystanders' efforts to resuscitate him.

A village which was cut off for three days because of heavy snow is getting back to normal.

All the main roads into Fradswell, near Stafford, were blocked because of snow drifts, but farmers worked together over the weekend to clear main routes.

Image source, Z70

Villagers also held a community soup kitchen in the village hall on Friday.

A man has been charged with murder and assault, external after the body of a missing woman was discovered at an address in Birmingham.

Police attended an address in Cooksey Lane, Kingstanding, on Friday as part of inquiries to trace Charlotte Teeling, from Worcester.

Officers found the 33-year-old dead inside the property.

Richard Bailey, from Cooksey Lane Kingstanding, is due to appear before magistrates today.

Coventry Telegraph

Some of the headlining stories in the Coventry Telegraph today are:

• Financial firm creates 40 new jobs in Coventry, external
• Police release CCTV images after man glassed in Coventry pub, external
• Massive transformation on the cards for Bedworth school, external

BBC News Travel

A trespasser on the line is delaying rail services through Longbridge and Alvechurch to Birmingham New Street.

There are currently delays of around 15 minutes, said West Midlands Railway.

Singer Robbie Williams was among those congratulating Stoke-on-Trent actress and writer Rachel Shenton on her Oscar win for The Silent Child.

Image source, Rachel Shenton / Twitter

The former Hollyoaks star tweeted "as Sunday's go last night was pretty up there!"

The Silent Child tells the story of a profoundly deaf girl called Libby, played by six-year-old actress Maisie Sly.

She along with the director Chris Overton, who was also in Hollyoaks, used crowdfunding to finance the film.

Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Hurst is warning against complacency ahead of the Checkatrade Trophy semi-final tonight.

The side is just one game away from a Wembley final as it meets Yeovil Town.

The game was postponed last week due to the weather.

BBC Business News

The proposed hostile takeover of UK engineering giant GKN could have "a detrimental impact" on the company's ability to fund its pension scheme, the Pensions Regulator has warned.

Image source, GKN

Melrose Industries has offered £7.4bn for the 259 year-old firm which has bases in Birmingham, Telford, Redditch and Leek.

But there are worries over the level of additional debt GKN would take on if the takeover goes ahead.

Bosses of both companies are due before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday as the battle over GKN intensifies.

BBC Midlands Today

A campaign is growing to honour the only soldier born in Herefordshire to win the Victoria Cross.

Allan Leonard Lewis, 23, from Whitney-on-Wye was killed 100 years ago, just weeks before the end of World War One.

His heroism is relatively unknown but funds are being raised for a bronze statue in his memory.

The soldier's great-neice, Dawn Lewis, is at the forefront of the campaign for the life-sized memorial.

Three flood warnings have been issued for Herefordshire, external, and several flood alerts are in place across the region.

Very heavy localised overnight rain, combined with the snow melt has resulted in the warnings, said the Environment Agency.

Bottled water stations are open in Birmingham and Solihull today for anyone still experiencing intermittent supplies.

Another influx of burst pipes reported overnight which means the company hasn't got as much water back into the network as we would normally expect during the night when people are using less.

Image source, Severn Trent

Freev water is available at Sainsbury's in Frankley Beeches Road, and Tesco, Stratford Road in Solihull.

The water company has apologised to customers affected and say they've had extra teams "working around the clock" to fix a large number of burst pipes.

No trains are able to operate between Swansea and Shrewsbury via Llandrindod (Heart of Wales Line), Network Rail says.

The firm says it has to 'prove' the entire route is completely safe by using inspection trains/locomotives before passenger trains can resume running. This is planned to take place throughout today.

Image source, Arriva Trains Wales

Replacement buses will operate between Llanelli and Llandovery only (calling all stops, both directions). No buses are running on the rest of the route.

The companies' sites at Bournville and Solihull are now able to use water as normal, Severn Trent says.

Water supplies have now been switched back on at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in Solihull and Cadbury in Bournville, Birmingham, Severn Trent says., external

Image source, Severn Trent

The company which said it had seen an increase in reports of burst pipes after the cold weather, thanked the Coventry-based carmaker for agreeing to stop production "to help us target our supply".

Water was restored at JLR in the early hours of this morning, but the night shift had been cancelled in advance.

Water has also been restored to all customers in south Birmingham, it said, but some people may experience poor pressure or intermittent supplies.

Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

It should be a mainly dry day with sunny spells, but some cloud too with the odd shower, and highs of 9C 48F.