The successor to the Welfare Food scheme will widen the range of food available to families through vouchers, public health minister Melanie Johnson said last week.

Speaking to the annual conference of the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association, she said the Healthy Start scheme, which will launch next year, would also encourage women to sign up for help earlier, enabling health professionals to provide advice on healthy eating and breastfeeding.

The Government will also increase the level of benefit in the first year of a child's life for breastfeeding mothers.