Policy Announcements, Friday 16 March

Government  

• The chairman of the Commons Treasury select committee has outlined the key themes of Gordon Brown's forthcoming Budget.  John McFall, an ally of the chancellor, said that support for education, families and welfare to work schemes would be central.  
• A timetable for elections to find a new leader when Tony Blair quits is expected to be agreed next week by Labour's National Executive Committee. Mr Blair is expected to announce his retirement as prime minister after the Scottish and Welsh elections on 3 May. There will then be a seven-week contest for the position of Labour leader and deputy leader, the BBC understands.  
•  Nearly £300,000 has been spent in three years on televisions and games consoles for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. MPs were told that, since 2005, the Ministry of Defence had spent nearly £260,000 on TV sets and more than £38,000 on Sony Playstations  

Conservatives  

• A Conservative government would give local public health bosses their own budget to tackle issues such as obesity and alcohol abuse. The proposal is one of a raft put out for a three-month consultation by the party. Another idea is to rename the Health Secretary as the Public Health Secretary. Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said a shake-up of public health was badly needed.