Directors of children's services to be given responsibilities for public health policy

The white paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People, outlines proposals to move around £4bn of public health funding to local government control.

This includes setting up health and wellbeing boards to ensure councils and health commissioners work together to improve the health of their community.

Among those to be guaranteed seats on the boards are directors of children's and adult services, and local GPs, who will be handed commissioning powers under plans unveiled earlier this year in the government's previous white paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS.

Also included in Healthy Lives, Healthy People are plans to create a director of public health role in each area to oversee local health strategy. The white paper says it expects these directors to be "strategic leaders for public health and health inequalities in local communities" and work closely with children's professionals and schools on child health matters. They will also be given a seat on their local health and wellbeing board.