Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Paul Murphy will today announce his intention to increase the role of a special police unit set up to investigate unsolved murders.
Mr Murphy will tell the Labour Party conference that the serious crime review team set up by Chief Constable Hugh Orde should be put on a more comprehensive footing to look at more unsolved cases.
The British government has been under pressure from the Northern Ireland Police Federation to provide extra money for the unit set up to review a small number of murders.
The federation wants the unit to have the resources to examine all 1,800 unsolved cases, including the killings of more than 200 police officers.
Mr Murphy is not expected to outline the amount of money the Government intends to put into the review team. A further announcement on details is expected later.
A team of 30 detectives has examined 40 files from the huge number of cases of unsolved civilian killings over 30 years of violence.
Mr Murphy will also call on Northern Ireland's politicians to build on the political progress made after talks at Leeds Castle, Kent this month.