Cash to fund the government's plans to improve children's services is unlikely to come from planned efficiency measures, ministers have been warned.

A report form the Commons education select committee cast doubt on measures set out in the government's green paper, 'Every Child Matters'.

"We think - and our concern is amplified by what witnesses have told us - that the additional resources needed to 'bridge' the transition from 'fire fighting' to more effective preventive, universally accessible services are unlikely to be found through 'efficiency savings' generated by services working in a more 'joined-up' way," said the committee.

The MPs said they were "not convinced" that the financial implications of the reforms have been properly assessed.

They added that "it is therefore not clear on what basis the government is able to assume that Every Child Matters will be largely self-financing".

While there was a welcome for extra school capital funding, question marks were raised over budgets to pay for other policies.

"We are doubtful that a policy as ambitious as Every Child Matters can be funded in the main from existing budgets," cautioned the report.

"Better deployment of existing resources is a laudable aim, but we believe the government needs to lead from the top on this issue and build up an evidence base which demonstrates how this can be achieved in practice."

And the report also questioned whether Every Child Matters can be rolled out "in the context of significant job cuts and restructuring at the DfES".