Policy Announcements, Monday 19 February

• Jack Straw has abandoned controversial plans to use a preferential voting system for deciding on the future of the House of Lords. MPs will instead use the traditional 'ayes and noes' method of voting to decide the upper chamber's composition. The leader of the Commons said he was responding to criticism from MPs after publication of his white paper on Lords reform earlier this month.
• Cancelling plans for ID cards would render Britain "defenceless in the war against illegal immigrants", according to Home Office minister Liam Byrne. Speaking at Home Office questions in the Commons, Byrne told MPs that 70 per cent of the cost of introducing the ID card system would have to be spent on new biometric passports. He dismissed suggestions that the scheme - intended to combat illegal immigration, identity fraud, organised crime and terrorism - could be scrapped in its entirety.
• The government has come under fresh pressure to scrap the ban on the intelligence services tapping MPs' phones. The annual report of the independent interception of communications commissioner published on Monday called for the 'Wilson doctrine' to be abolished. Named after former prime minister Harold Wilson, the doctrine exempts MPs and peers from the security services' reach. But Sir Swinton Thomas said it placed parliamentarians "above the law".
• Thirteen local health areas today pledged to meet the government's 18 week treatment target a full year before the rest of the NHS. The government has said that by the end of 2008, patients can expect a maximum wait of 18 weeks from referral to the start of treatment. Eighteen weeks is the maximum but many patients will be treated more quickly, most in approximately seven weeks. In the past it was not uncommon for people to wait over 2 years for an operation, now no-one waits longer than six months and the average wait for inpatient treatment is around eight weeks.
• A draft guide was published today to help planners better understand how planning policy should be used to manage flood risk, as climate change continues to impact on traditional weather patterns. The 'living draft' of a Practice Guide Companion to Planning Policy Statement 25 (PPS25) will act as a consultation document as well as an interim support document for planners on applying PPS25 policy and seeks to help create consistency in how PPS25 is implemented across the country.
• A wind farm with the power to supply clean electricity to over 415,000 homes, more than all the demand in Suffolk, will be confirmed by Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The Greater Gabbard (GG) scheme supplying 500MW through 140-turbines will cut CO2 emissions by 1.5m tonnes a year - the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road. The project is being developed by the companies Airtricity and Fluor. It will be placed close to two shallow sandbanks - the Inner Gabbard and the Galloper - around 23km (12 miles) from the Suffolk coast. The sites will occupy an area of nearly 150 square kilometres within the outer Thames Estuary strategic wind farm area.
• A landmark minimum wage ruling handed down by the Court of Appeal on Friday means thousands of Butlins' and Haven Holidays' staff will share up to £1million in pay arrears. HM Revenue & Customs took enforcement action against Leisure Employment Services, which owns Butlins and Haven Holidays, over deductions taken from employees' wages to cover utility bills. The deduction of £6 per fortnight from staff living onsite meant pay fell below the national minimum wage. The case began at Employment Tribunal in 2005.

• The culture secretary is to meet the Conservative leader in a bid to shore up cross-party support for the London Olympics. Tessa Jowell will hold talks with David Cameron on Thursday after the two fell out over the escalating cost of staging the event. The meeting follows a row over Conservative plans to set up a committee of experts to monitor progress in the lead-up to the 2012 Games.

• Good views, nearby shops and "peace and quiet" have all been used to calculate how much council tax homes should be liable for, the Tories have complained.  Details of the criteria were contained in an internal Government handbook related to a revaluation of properties in Wales, which has obtained by the party.  Spokeswoman Caroline Spelman warned they could be applied to houses elsewhere in the UK, creating a "punishing and cynical tax on people's quality of life".
• Senior civil servants employed at the Department of Health do not believe the ministry is well managed, according to figures uncovered by the Conservatives. With more than five of every six of the Department's top officials giving the thumbs down to the way the Labour government is running the health service, Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley declared: "This is a vote of no confidence in Patricia Hewitt's leadership from the people who work closely with her and so experience her incompetence at first hand."