All children under seven will get free fruit every day at school in a £77m programme announced yesterday at the beginning of the government drive to improve public health and tackle obesity.

John Reid, the health secretary, said a pilot scheme using lottery funding was already benefiting a million pupils and merited permanent extension to all state primary schools in England.

A survey found that the children getting free fruit at school also ate more fruit outside school hours. More than a quarter of the children and their families ate more fruit at home after their school joined the scheme. Nearly half the parents said the scheme made them more aware of the importance of fruit to a healthy diet.

Mr Reid was told by officials that they found children in some deprived areas who knew fruit only as something that came out of tins.

The scheme will require 440m portions of fruit a year to be distributed to 2 million children in about 18,000 state schools in England. The aim is for every child aged four to six to get a piece of fresh fruit every school day.

In a survey published yesterday more than 75% of parents said they had difficulty getting children to eat. Nearly half had to struggle to get them to eat vegetables, and 46% said their young would eat just snacks.

One in four children was "very fussy or quite fussy", according to research by the Consumer Analysis Group for Safeway supermarket.

Mr Reid made it clear that he would give greater emphasis to public health this year, but hinted that he would resist pressure from public health professionals who want the government to ban or tax tobacco, food and drink which may harm health. This may clash with Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, who wants a more interventionist approach.

SocietyGuardian.co.uk/publichealth