The Government is to fund five council-led programmes to tackle childhood obesity.

They will include creating apprenticeships in health and nutrition in Birmingham and partnerships with mosques in Bradford.

The schemes will share £1.5m of Government money over the next five years, public health minister Seema Kennedy announced.

The project is being supported by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Local Government Association and Public Health England.

Ms Kennedy said: 'Every child deserves the best start in life – communities need to come together to play their part in helping the next generation to be healthy and active.

'Prevention is at the heart of our NHS Long Term Plan, but a one-size-fits-all approach does not work in public health.??'These pilots are rightly rooted in the needs of the communities they serve and I look forward to seeing what benefits this grassroots approach has on our nation's obesity problem.'