The health of under-fives has not significantly improved despite more than £10 billion of investment, according to auditors.

Government policies in the last decade have failed to bridge the gap between the poor and well-off, the Audit Commission study said.

"Children under five years living in deprived areas are 8 per cent more likely to be obese; 9 per cent more likely to be of a low birth weight; and 12 per cent more likely to have an accident than those living in the rest of England."

The study said that between 1999 and 2008 "health outcomes for the under-fives, on the whole, have only marginally changed".

Gillian Merron, Minister for Public Health said: "This Government is committed to giving children and young people an equal chance of good health and there is much to celebrate already such as the success of our Sure Start Children’s Centres which offer health and advice services to millions of families, particularly in the most deprived areas. We have seen increases in breastfeeding rates, a recent decrease in child obesity after a long upward trend and the new immunisation schedules which ensured that in 2008 no child died of meningitis C."