Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Wednesday, 23 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 April 2005. It was answered by Melanie Johnson (Labour) on Thursday, 7 April 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 7th December 2004, Official Report, Vol 428 column 504W, on Health White Paper, what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing the Healthy Start programme (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) costs of the campaign aimed at families, (ii) costs of the communications and training programme for health professionals and (iii) other costs.

Answer: Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2004, Official Report, column 504W, on Health White Paper, what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing the Healthy Start programme (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) costs of the campaign aimed at families, (ii) costs of the communications and training programme for health professionals and (iii) other costs. [224322] Miss Melanie Johnson: Healthy Start will replace the existing welfare food scheme and will be phased in from summer 2005. We expect that Healthy Start expenditure should continue at a similar level to the welfare food scheme. The budget is demand-led and current expenditure is approximately £140 million per annum. A draft regulatory impact assessment (RIA), which includes breakdowns of the expected costs of Healthy Start, was published in the Healthy Start consultation on draft regulations that was launched on 1 February 2005. This RIA will be revised in light of the responses to the consultation and before Parliament is invited to approve the regulations. The consultation ends on 26 April. A communications strategy and health professional training activities for Healthy Start are currently in development and will link in with communications and training to be provided as part of the actions set out in the "Choosing a Better Diet: a food and health action plan".

Secondary information