I congratulate my hon. Friend Mr. Todd on securing this debate on the important matter of the Government's provision of free fruit and vegetables in schools. I share the interest and passion that he showed for free fruit and vegetables in schools. He generously describes this Government scheme as a "shining star", and I welcome his support for it. On his recent visit to a school in Shardlow in his Constituency, he saw exactly what I saw on a recent visit to Mount Street school in my constituency; we were both struck by the enthusiasm that the staff, children, parents and governors all shared for the school fruit and vegetables scheme. I am sure that it is why he has been joined by my hon. Friends the Members for Stroud (Mr. Drew) and for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor), who have also shown enthusiasm and support for the scheme.

We all know that a healthy and balanced diet is critical to health and well-being. Only last week, I was glad to see the figures suggesting that childhood obesity is levelling off, and I am sure that my hon. Friends were, too. That is an impressive new trend but, as always, the challenge remains for us to help people of all ages to make the right choices and to make further progress, and that we will do. The five a day programme to raise awareness and promote the consumption of at least five 80-gram portions of fruit and vegetables was developed based on a recommendation from the World Health Organisation. That followed evidence that consuming at least 400 grams of fruit and vegetables each day could reduce the number of deaths from chronic diseases by up to a fifth-what a prize that is. It is also estimated that diet may contribute to the development of a third of all cancers, and that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is the second most important cancer prevention strategy that we have to hand, after cutting out smoking-we have just discussed that issue in the House.

Under the Government-funded school fruit and vegetable scheme, children aged four to six at local authority maintained infant, primary and special schools are given a free portion of fruit or vegetables on each school day. As my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire rightly said, since April 2004 the scheme has been funded by the Department of Health. To use his terminology, we regard ourselves as an easy parent to the scheme and are very committed to it, not least because 2 million children throughout England receive a free portion of fruit or vegetables every day.

The scheme sits closely alongside a number of other actions that the Government are taking to improve children's health, including the following: the five a day programme, which continues to raise awareness to improve the level of consumption of fruit and vegetables among people in England and, thus, promote health and well-being; and the Change4Life scheme, which aims to raise awareness about diet and physical activity and to create what I would describe as a mass movement for change to help reduce obesity by helping to put across to people the need to eat well, move more and live longer-fruit and veg consumption is one of the key messages. There is also the free school meal pilot, which is a joint project-my hon. Friend is obviously interested in the work that we do across Departments-involving the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health, who have jointly allocated £20 million over the next two years, and participating local authorities and primary care trusts, who are contributing the same in match funding

In addition, we have Healthy Start, which is a UK-wide statutory scheme providing vouchers to low-income families to spend on milk, fresh fruit, fresh veg and infant formula milk, and access to vitamin supplements via the NHS. There is also the national healthy schools programme, which is a joint initiative between the DCSF and the Department of Health that promotes a "whole school, whole child" approach to health. On nutritional standards in schools, the Government recently introduced very welcome standards for school food in all local authority maintained primary, secondary, special and boarding schools, and pupil referral units in England. The new standards will cover all food sold or served in schools. Each of those programmes-and other work that we do across government-supports children in increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption and in making the very necessary healthy choices.

I heard my hon. Friend's request for clarification about existing pilot schemes and about the extension of the scheme beyond infants. I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker, for any confusion over answers to parliamentary questions, and I am grateful to him for bringing this to my attention. For complete clarity, the written answer that he has mentioned referred to free school meals, while the evaluation that he referred to relates to the school fruit and vegetable scheme. I am sure that he will be pleased to learn that the popularity of the school fruit and veg scheme has prompted some local education authorities and PCTs in England to take a local decision to fund its extension to seven to 10-year-olds. Those areas include Hull, where the scheme is funded by the city council; Liverpool, where it is funded by the PCT; and North Tyneside, where it is funded by the council. In addition, Sheffield PCT is also funding three schools in its area in respect of pupils aged 11 to 13, and I understand that it hopes to extend that to a further five schools in January 2010 and then to an additional five schools in April 2010.

Furthermore, one way in which we are planning to extend the scheme to more children and their families is by using the existing distribution network to promote child-friendly recipe cards, not only to four to six-year-olds, but to children up to the age of 10. We have already started doing this kind of work by using this scheme to distribute Change4Life information, which has secured an impressive response from families with young children. The school fruit and veg scheme, like other Government programmes, provides a firm foundation, which can be built on by local authorities and local health services, should they so wish.

I want to mention the comments made by my three hon. Friends. I heard their points, which were well made, about supporting British agriculture and the farming community. I assure my hon. Friends and the House that I have recently held discussions with the relevant Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about how we can do that still further.