Policy Announcements, Thursday 19 April

Government  

• Ministers are planning new powers to detain terror suspects for longer before charge, and to allow the police to question them after they are charged. In an interview in the Guardian newspaper Lord Goldsmith said the government is looking at allowing the police to question suspects after they are charged with terror offences. The attorney general said that the proposals, to be included in the new terrorism bill, were aimed at dealing with cases that require investigation of masses of evidence often contained in encrypted computer files. He also disclosed that the Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether to bring the first prosecution of a terrorism suspect who is currently under a control order, using intercept evidence obtained abroad.  
• Up to 200 environmentally friendly schools are to be built as part of the drive to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change, the government has announced. Education secretary Alan Johnson claimed the eco-schools would help save five million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The scheme, which comes as part of a £110m investment package to be delivered over three years, will also see all secondary schools given a copy of Al Gore's film 'An inconvenient truth'.