Written question asked by Howard Stoate (Labour) on Thursday, 4 July 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 September 2002. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Thursday, 19 September 2002 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To 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. - Including figures.

Answer: Dr. Stoate: To 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 Blears: We 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 care 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.

Secondary information