BOOSTING children's health pushes up exam scores, the North-East's first health inequalities summit was told yesterday.

Professor Richard Parish, chief executive of the Health Development Agency, told delegates that a pilot scheme designed to promote healthier pupils had produced "dramatic" increases in Standard Assessment Test (SATs) scores.

A review of the impact on schools of the National Health School Standard carried out by Ofsted had shown "highly significant" improvements in academic performance, said Prof Parish.

More than 200 schools, including sites in the North-East, have been taking part in the scheme, which aims to support pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Prof Parish said the Ofsted assessment - which has not been announced anywhere else - demonstrated how improving the health of a community could have wider benefits.

The scheme is expected to be rolled out to every part of the country.

The Health Development Agency boss was second on the bill to Health Minister Hazel Blears, who flew to the North-East to make the keynote speech.

Ms Blears, who represents a tough, inner-city area of Salford in Greater Manchester, said the strong commitment to promoting health and regeneration in the North-East was "the envy" of many other communities.

The summit, held at the Stadium of Light, in Sunderland, brought together six strategic agencies to look at ways of tackling the poor health of people in the North-East.

The minister told 170 delegates, who included leaders from the public, private and voluntary sectors, that there has "never been a time when tackling inequalities in health and well-being has been more important".

She said the key to success was "partnership working between agencies and, more essentially, with communities themselves."

Ms Blears said the Government had a long-term policy to reduce inequality, and had already started through measures such as working family tax credits, the minimum wage and getting more people into work.

Top of the health agenda was to improve the health of young families and tackle major killers such as heart disease and cancer, which disproportionately affected poorer people, she said.

A series of graphics rammed home the message that the North-East has the worst health in the country, with heart disease and stroke, cancers, mental illness, teenage pregnancies and long-term disability the biggest threats to health in the region