By Jemma Slingo2021-06-02T11:34:00+01:00 The health secretary has agreed to extend a scheme that provides children with free food to infants from migrant backgrounds, following a claim for judicial review. Civil liberties firm Matthew Gold & Co issued judicial review proceedings in December, challenging the eligibility criteria for the government's ‘Healthy Start Scheme’. The programme provides free vitamins, nutritional advice and weekly food vouchers to low income families with pregnant women and children up to the age of four. However, MG & Co said the eligibility criteria excluded some of the UK’s poorest children because they have migrant backgrounds and their families are unable to claim mainstream benefits, which is the trigger for entitlement. The claim alleged the scheme was indirectly discriminatory against children and mothers from black and ethnic minority backgrounds and was inconsistent with its intended purpose.