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Around 10,000 workers at Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council face losing their jobs unless they accept worse pay and conditions under new contracts, claims the GMB union. RCT said the review of staff contracts was due to public sector cuts which will affect the amount of money given to local authorities from central government funds.

Education officers and councillors are arguing over planned school closures in Carmarthenshire. The officers want to cut the number of primary schools from 115 to 84 to tackle surplus places and buildings in poor repair. However councillors have said specific figures should be removed from a document as there must be consultation before any school can close.

The Conservatives’ shadow finance minister Nick Ramsay described the new budget for the Welsh assembly as "completely unacceptable", saying it put frontline services at risk, with the inevitable effect on jobs. The budget reveals a real terms cut for the NHS and schools. Total health spending receives a cut by 7.6% in real terms, with the capital budget severely reduced.

A raid by the UK Border Agency discovered men found working illegally in a Caernarfon abbatoir. The men, from Pakistan and South Africa, were discovered at Sher Foods on the Cibyn Industrial estate in Caernarfon, Gwynedd.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Spending Review means that talk of making savings is a priority in the corridors of power in England and Wales. In its latest report, the cross-party Public Accounts Committee questioned whether, given their poor performance in the past, departments were ready for the scale of the challenge ahead.

Hospital ward supervisors’ jobs were like making a pint from half a pint because of the limited resources available to them – this comment came from an investigation into a patient’s death. The coroner, Michael Rose, voiced concern about the impact of EU limits on working hours in hospitals after hearing that an elderly patient waited five hours to be seen by a doctor but was dead by the time one arrived.

Many schoolchildren are on half-term this week, but some educational establishments are experimenting with the school calendar, such as moving to a five-term year. The break mirrors the usual half-term, so they will notice little difference from children at most schools in Wales. Governors in England and Wales seem more inclined to curtail the summer holiday, since it is also expensive to put children in day care schemes.

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said there was still "a good future" for St Athan, the scrapped Defence Technical College (DTC). It would have created more than 2,000 jobs in the Vale of Glamorgan, providing training for the armed services.

As part of the coalition programme of quango reform, a Public Bodies Bill is to be introduced giving Whitehall departments the power to abolish or change the functions of bodies set up under statute. The legislation, hoped by the Government to get Royal Assent by next summer, will mean that the power is in place to axe quangos in future.

Deficit-busting budget cuts are likely to lead to fewer fire engines in years to come, a chief officer says. Andy Marles, of South Wales Fire Service, said of anticipated 25% cuts to services: "It will get extremely difficult.

North Wales fire chiefs are warning students not to plug in too many appliances to extension cables following an incident when a student building had to be cleared. The North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said it was also called out to three ‘false alarms’ at the halls of residence in Bangor was evacuated. A Facebook campaign is being extended to promote fire safety as part of students’ fresher’s week.

To mark this month’s increase, the Government announced that firms who deliberately flouted minimum wage laws will be ‘named and shamed’ under a new scheme. Employment relations minister Edward Davey said of this public policy: “Bad publicity can be a powerful weapon in the fight against employers who try to cheat their workers and their competitors.