The health secretary has announced reforms to the Welfare Food Scheme in a bid to make free fruit and vegetables available to the poorest families.

Under the current system, eligible parents receive tokens for liquid and infant formula milk.

These will be replaced with vouchers for fresh produce.

Those families with a child up to the age of one will receive vouchers worth at least £5.60 per week, while those with children over one year old will receive £2.80 a week.

Low incomes

All families on the lowest incomes will be eligible, as well as all mothers aged 18 or younger.

The Department of Health estimates that as many as 800,000 people could qualify to receive the new vouchers.

"The government is committed to tackling the rise in obesity," said John Reid on Monday.

"Although I believe it's not the government's role to lecture people how to live their lives, it is our responsibility to provide the means for them and their families to follow a healthier lifestyle.

"The best way of tackling obesity is through encouraging a healthy diet at an early age. These changes mean that pregnant women, nursing mothers and younger children already benefiting from the scheme will in future have a greater choice of healthy eating options, so reducing the chances of obesity."

The move comes a week after a report claiming that nine per cent of children aged between two and four were classed as obese.

Changes to the Welfare Food Scheme will be phased in from the end of this year, and will include offering the option of milk or fruit to children in nursery school, rather than the sole option of milk as is currently the case.

Old news

But Conservative health spokesman Chris Grayling accused the government of repackaging a previous announcement.

"This is yet another re-announcement of an existing scheme," he said.

"Yes, the scheme has been reformed, but the government announced that they would do this in a press release in March 2003. Moreover, the changes will not be introduced until the end of 2004.

"The government has re-announced this scheme in an attempt to mask their failure to deal with the very real problem of obesity in the UK.

"Their approach to public health issues has long been criticised for being fragmented and lacking in coherence. It is a sad state of affairs that they have been forced to stoop so low."