The health secretary has pledged to focus on improving the health of Britain's poorest people.

Setting out details of the government's review of health inequalities, Alan Milburn also announced a series of new initiatives to reduce smoking - the nation's principal cause of avoidable death.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Faculty for Public Health Medicine on Wednesday, Milburn said the government needed to foster a change in NHS thinking "to put renewed emphasis on prevention as well as cure".

The Department of Health will set performance targets for health authorities on public health and preventative medicine.

The review will also establish a new funding formula to divert more resources to the areas with the biggest needs, attempting to tackle inequalities in access to healthcare that Milburn described as a "scar" on the nation.

"It is time for a sea change in attitudes. A renewed determination to fulfil the ambition we should share as a nation, to improve the health of all and to improve the health of the poorest, fastest," said Milburn.

"For over fifty years the health gap between the better off and the worst off has widened, not narrowed. For me, that offends against all this government stands for."

The drive to combat smoking will be led by the government with assistance from charities and pharmaceutical companies, he said.

There will be stronger health warnings on cigarette packets and tougher regulation of nicotine product descriptions, banning the use of words such as "mild" and "light".

And a new "cash-back" agreement with the pharmaceutical industry will see companies offer the government a rebate on purchases of smoking cessation products, above a certain threshold.

Conservative health spokesman Simon Burns said that Labour had made similar promises before without achieving significant results.

"Labour's health failures have been nowhere more apparent than in the field of public health," he said.

"It is time for the government to stop rededicating itself to public health with another gimmick, and just get on with the job of improving the public's health."

The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Paul Burstow, said the government needed to increase the money it spends on helping smokers to quit.

"Ministers must focus existing NHS resources on better public health, and preventing illness.

"Stopping people before they start smoking, or helping people to quit, will save billions of pounds for the NHS and thousands of lives," Burstow said.