§ Dr. StoateTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he is taking to improve access to fresh and affordable food and produce in the most socially deprived communities. [68343]
§ Ms BlearsWe have in place major programmes to tackle the inequalities that exist in access to healthy food. This includes a Welfare Food Scheme that provides milk for low-income families and a Five-a-Day Programme to increase access to, and availability of fruit and vegetables. Following a successful pilots stage, the new opportunities fund is providing £10 million to set up sixty-six Five-a-day community programmes led by primary care356W trusts based in deprived areas. A further £42 million is being invested to extend the National School Fruit Scheme to cover over 1 million children from 2002 to 2004.
§ Ms ShipleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research he has carried out on the effects of(a) salt and (b) fat in the diet of (i) pre-school and (ii) school age children. [71122]
§ Ms BlearsThe Department has not funded research specifically on the effects of salt and fat in the diet of pre-school and school aged children. However a range of projects has been funded looking at the influence of children's eating habits and other childhood factors impacting on health in later life, such as in the development of adult obesity. The Government have also commissioned national diet and nutrition surveys (NDNS) which provide information on the diet, individual nutrient intakes and nutritional status of the population including pre-school and school aged children. The NDNS for children aged one and a half to four and a half years was published in 1995 and the survey on young people aged four to eighteen years in 2000. Copies are available in the Library.
We are committed in the NHS Plan to working with the Food Standards Agency and the food industry to improve the overall balance of the diet including reductions in the salt, fat and sugar content of processed foods.