Summary

  • Live updates from Monday 1 July to Sunday 7 July

  • Click Related Stories to read updates from your part of the Midlands

Live Reporting

  1. Pupils 'having to teach themselves foreign languages'

    Parliament's been hearing how pupils at a Coventry school are having to teach themselves foreign languages - after cuts to teaching staff.

    It comes amid claims from the British Council that teachers fear Brexit will affect the quality of foreign language lessons in schools, if staff from the EU no longer come to the UK.

    Matt WesternMatt Western

    The Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington, Matt Western (pictured), told the Commons the case in Coventry highlighted inequalities in the education system.

    "Eighteen-year-old Sian in my constituency and several of her colleagues have just completed their A-level German. Sadly due to the cuts in the teaching staff at the school they had to teach themselves for the last two terms. By contrast at the local private schools they have German teachers still in place."

    Theresa May said the government's been putting more money into schools.

    We have been ensuring that we are making that funding, and the distribution of that funding fairer, fairer across the country. As I've just said in response to my Right Honourable Friend I want to ensure that every young person can get as far in life as their talents and their hard work will take (them)."

    Theresa May, Prime minister

  2. Costa leaves Wolves

    BBC WM Sport

    Helder Costa has left Wolves to join Leeds United.

    Helder CostaGetty Imaages

    The 25-year-old is moving to Elland Road initially on loan, but the deal will become permanent next summer for an undisclosed fee.

    Costa has agreed a four-year contract.

  3. 'I want to be like Steph, I want to be like Ellen White'

    BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

    The success of the England Lionesses in recent years has inspired a generation, a Chelsea player has said.

    Jess Carter, from Warwickshire, says the profile of the game has grown massively in just a few short years.

    I think that so many people have seen them and will want to play... will want to encourage their kids to play... Kids will be saying 'I want to be like Steph (Houghton), I want to be like Ellen White', like so many young girls will be saying this now, and even with more men watching it as well and supporting, I think that it can only help."

    Jess Carter, Footballer

    Ellen White with Jill Scott during the FIFA Women"s World Cup Semi Final match at the Stade de LyonPA Media

    The Lionesses were beaten 2-1 by defending world champions USA.in their semi-final last night, after Ellen White (pictured left with Jill Scott) had equalised.

  4. Weekend services at dementia day centre to be axed

    Local Democracy Reporting Service

    Weekend provision at a council-funded day centre for people living with dementia is to be stopped.

    Maymorn CentreGoogle

    Coventry City Council is recommended to cut weekend services at Maymorn Day Centre, in Everdon Road, Holbrooks, at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

    It is proposed the seven-day-a-week service, which has been operational since 2008, will cease all weekend provision by the end of October this year.

    The service offers 25 places Monday to Friday and 10 places Saturday and Sunday. However, the weekend service has ‘low occupancy’, the council said.

    The site was the only seven-day service for people with dementia in Coventry.

    Consultation "with service users/families and staff" has taken place, Jon Reading, head of commissioning and provision, said.

  5. Brummies hope to maintain form at Perry Barr

    BBC WM Sport

    In speedway, the Birmingham Brummies will aim to continue their impressive recent form at their Perry Barr home in tonight's match against the Glasgow Tigers, but they'll have to do it with a significantly-changed team.

    The Brummies had already announced that Danyon Hume would be returning to the team and also that the young Danish rider Nick Agertoft would be making his first appearance.

    But Tero Aarnio has failed a late fitness test, after he crashed in Poland at the weekend, and Ashley Morris has an injured wrist.

    In-form Leicester and Swindon man Ellis Perks have been booked to cover for Morris.

    The meeting starts at 19:30.

  6. Equality programme to return at LGBT row school

    The No Outsiders project was halted after demonstrations outside the school in Alum Rock.

    Read More

  7. Weather watchers: Blue skies all round

    BBC Weather Watchers

    Lots of photos coming in from our local BBC Weather Watchers of brilliant blue skies across the West Midlands.

    Here's three, from users Dull Rob in Rudyard, Staffordshire, SteveC in Warwick and Skye in Clee Hill, Shropshire:

    RudyardDull Rob
    WarwickSteveC
    Clee HillSkye

  9. CSE inquiry 'likely to take more than 18 months'

    Local Democracy Reporting Service
    Alex Moore

    An inquiry into reports of child sexual exploitation (CSE) by grooming gangs in Telford could last for more than 18 months, the chairman has said.

    It was set up following a Sunday Mirror claim up to 1,000 girls had been abused by gangs in the town since the 1980s.

    Former judge Tom Crowther QC was appointed to chair it last month.

    He said Professor Alexis Jay's probe into the Rotherham CSE scandal took nine months to report but his inquiry could stretch into 2021.

    We regard our task as being significantly longer. This is unlikely to take less than 18 months."

    Tom Crowther QC, Chair, Telford CSE inquiry

  10. England talk just 'a bit of hype - Sibley

    Kent 585-7 dec, Warwickshire 462-6 - lunch

    Warwickshire's Dom Sibley has certainly had a busy couple of days.

    The Bears opener's dismissal just before lunch for a career-best 244 against Kent at Canterbury, the highest score in the County Championship this season, was the first time during this match that he had not been out there on the pitch.

    But what are his immediate career prospects now, after so painstakingly rewriting his entry in next year's Playfair Cricket Annual. And, more particularly, in a month's time? Might England need a new Test opener?

    Back in the Caribbean in February, Rory Burns, alongside whom Sibley made his first-class debut for Surrey in 2013, and Keaton Jennings had the jobs.

    Neither have yet made totally compelling claims to become Sir Alastair Cook's long-term successor at the top of the England order.

    Warwickshire opener Dom SibleyGetty Images

    Or does another of Sibley's old Surrey team-mates, Jason Roy, the new darling of the one-day game, have stronger claims to finally become a Test player?

    There is an obvious connection for Sibley to the England set-up. Ashley Giles, who signed Sibley for Warwickshire, is now the head honcho of English cricket. His Bears replacement Paul Farbrace left his job as England assistant coach to come to Edgbaston. And chairman of selectors Ed Smith is known to have sounds out Farbrace. But Sibley himself, like all of us, is just an interested onlooker.

    "A lot of people are chatting about it and there's a bit of hype surrounding my name," Sibley told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's Clive Eakin at the close of play on Tuesday night, after becoming the first to 1,000 first-class runs this season and the first Division One batsman to hit a County Championship double century this summer.

    "But I just want to keep batting and scoring runs. It's really that simple. If I keep batting and stay in the grove then who knows? We'll see what happens."

  11. Factory set to shut with loss of 170 jobs

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    A firm which makes locking mechanisms for cars is set to close its factory in the Black Country in December with 170 people losing their jobs.

    Huf UK, TiptonGoogle

    Huf UK started in Tipton in 1987 but its German-based owners plan to move the work to Poland and Romania, blaming a decline in the number of orders they've had.

    They say they failed to make the factory more competitive and are offering employees the chance to apply for jobs in the Eastern European plants.

  12. Leeds sign Wolves forward Costa

    Leeds United sign Wolves forward Helder Costa on a season-long loan deal, before a permanent move next summer.

    Read More

  13. Two arrested in charitable funds fraud probe

    Police and the Charity Commission are investigating the use of money by Sikh Youth UK.

    Read More

  14. New flood defences planned to protect town

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    Residents who've seen their area flooded several times in recent years are being asked how their flood defences can be improved.

    The River Arrow in AlcesterGoogle

    The Environment Agency's currently investigating how good the current ones are around Alcester.

    The area's been flooded largely down to its location at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow.

    The agency's holding a drop-in session on 9 July at the town hall to share its findings and get their views.

  15. Working men's club set to mark centenary

    BBC Midlands Today

    A working men’s club in Stoke-on-Trent is celebrating its 100th birthday.

    The bar at Baddeley Green Working Men’s Club

    Baddeley Green Working Men’s Club opened in July 1919 and thrived for many years.

    But significant debts of thousands of pounds plunged it into financial hardship.

    New management has helped see a resurgence and they say it's now extremely popular with the local community with more than 700 members.

    It is about enjoying yourselves and I come down here to enjoy myself, to take part in all the things which we run."

    Dave Perkin, Club secretary

  16. Centenary Square open after revamp

    A Birmingham landmark which has been closed for the last two years has officially reopened.

    Centenary Square

    Centenary Square has been shut since 2017 for a £15.5m redevelopment. The scheme went over budget by £3.8m.

    This... has got space for people to sit and enjoy the surroundings. We've got more than 5,000 plants in there. We've got a massive pond for kids and adults if they want to... We've got space for events too. We can still get the big wheel in there."

    Brigid Jones, Birmingham City Council deputy leader

  18. JCB signs £75m deal

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    Construction giant JCB has signed a £75m deal for machinery which will be built in Staffordshire.

    Managers in front of telescopic handlersJCB

    A plant fire firm, Ardent Hire Solutions, has placed the order which includes 1,100 telescopic handlers along with fork lifts and backhoe loaders, the digger which made the company famous.

    As well as building the machines in Rocester and Cheadle, JCB says their engines will be made in Derbyshire and their Wrexham factory will make transmissions and axles.

  19. Man 'seriously hurt' in A449 crash

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    A man suffered serious injuries in a crash in Worcestershire this morning.

    A449 near OmbersleyGoogle

    Two vehicles were involved in the collision on the A449 northbound, near Ombersley, on the way to Kidderminster.

    The road was shut for about three hours.