Policy Announcements, Tuesday 19 June

Government 

• Gordon Brown has delivered a wide-ranging speech on crime in which he promised a "radical review" of the government's anti-drugs strategy. The chancellor and prime minister-in-waiting also outlined plans for an extension of "family intervention projects" to influence almost 30,000 parents and prevent their children falling into gangs and crime. He restated his support for neighbourhood policing, currently being rolled out across the country, telling the annual conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers that forces could expect to be given more flexibility. He also announced funding for an unspecified extra number of prison places, and said he would consider making carrying out a serious offence on public transport an aggravating factor at sentencing.
• The justice secretary has announced that non-violent prisoners in England and Wales could be released up to 18 days early. Lord Falconer, who has been reviewing options for coping with the near-to-capacity prison population since his new Ministry of Justice took control of the area last month, unveiled plans to create "much needed" prison places. The early release measure for prisoners serving less than four years would come into force from June 29 and would not apply to serious offenders.
• Defence Secretary Des Browne has said armed forces personnel will be banned from selling stories in future. He told MPs of the move as he outlined the results of two inquiries into the capture of 15 Navy personnel by Iran. He told MPs no one person was to blame for the capture of the sailors and marines in March, but there had been a "series of vulnerabilities". On the decision to allow two sailors to sell their stories, there had been a "collective failure of judgement". The Fulton and Hall inquiries have been examining the circumstances of the capture, off the coast of Iraq, and how handling of media was conducted.