Policy Announcement, Tuesday 26 June

**Government **

• The government has published plans for tougher community punishments and a restriction on the use of suspended sentences. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill is to seek the "smart use of prison", the Ministry of Justice says, as it tries to reduce re-offending and cope with jail overcrowding. Last week justice secretary Lord Falconer outlined a range of measures to deal with the pressure on the prison service as the jail population exceeds its 80,000 capacity, including the early release of some non-violent offenders. The legislation is a further part of the strategy to use more community service orders for lesser offences and jail more serious offenders for longer.  
• Detailed proposals for the implementation of the UK's pioneering emissions trading scheme for large organisations in business and the public sector were set out by Climate Change and Environment Minister Ian Pearson today. The Carbon Reduction Commitment, announced in the Energy White Paper in May, is a mandatory cap and trade scheme that will cap emissions from up to 5000 large business and public sector organisations, which are collectively responsible for around 14 million tonnes of carbon each year.
• The government has unveiled a £220m package aimed at making funding decisions on care services fairer and clearer. Care services minister Ivan Lewis said the guidelines would see thousands of people receiving funding towards care costs. Currently, patients with identical care needs can receive different decisions on whether they are eligible for fully funded continuing care based on where they live. But Tuesday's measures aim to put an end to this so-called "postcode lottery" by creating one national system for everyone in England requiring this kind of care. "We understand that families do have to make difficult and emotional decisions when someone has to go into residential care and this can be made worse by having to consider how this will be funded," Lewis said. 
• London's mayor and assembly could be given more powers under proposals being discussed in Parliament. Peers were on Tuesday set to consider the Greater London Authority Bill, which proposes strengthening the mayor's powers in providing more housing in the capital. The Bill also includes provisions to boost the Greater London Authority's ability to make strategic planning decisions and increase its capacity in tackling climate change. Under the proposals, it is likely that London's boroughs will have to take the mayor's strategy into account when considering the design housing strategy in each area. The government says that increasing mayoral powers over housing is "sensible" and insists that these powers will be in keeping with national policies.But the Conservatives raised concerns over the transparency of the decision making process, and warned that involving the mayor could lead to delays in the planning process.

Conservatives

• MP Quentin Davies has defected from the Conservatives to Labour. The moderate former Tory frontbencher made the move on Tuesday as Gordon Brown was making his final preparations to take over as prime minister. Brown said he was "delighted" to secure the support of someone who "commands respect on all sides for his dedication to public service". In a letter to Conservative leader David Cameron, the Grantham and Stamford MP said: "Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda... You have displayed to the full both the vacuity and the cynicism of your favourite slogan 'change to win'." He went on to say of the Tories that he "no longer has respect for its leadership or understanding of its aims".  

Liberal Democrats

• There is a "political chasm" between the views of Liberal Democrats and the policies of Gordon Brown, Sir Menzies Campbell has said. Attacking the "cosy consensus" of Labour and the Conservatives on issues including the Iraq war and nuclear energy, Sir Menzies refused to "trade our principled opposition for the sake of ministerial jobs". He told party workers on Tuesday that Brown's failed bid to recruit senior Lib Dems to the cabinet had only proven that the party was "united, strong and independent". "We have consistently opposed the centralising and authoritarian tendencies of this Labour government," Sir Menzies said. And he warned Brown that, with "fingerprints are all over the scene of the crime", he could not distance himself from Tony Blair's policies.
• As part of their major summer campaign on the NHS, the Liberal Democrats have launched a new website - http://www.nhssos.com/. The site includes details of the Liberal Democrats 3-step plan to improve the NHS, local campaign news from around the country and an online petition which people can sign. Ming Campbell said, "I know from my own experience just how important the NHS is, and how hard nurses, doctors and other staff work. But by trying to control every detail of what goes on in the NHS the Labour Government has wasted money and caused a massive wave of cuts."