Report describes programme as 'one of the most innovative and ambitious government initiatives'

The Sure Start programme for children from deprived backgrounds should not be seen as an easy way for a future government to make spending cuts, an influential parliamentary committee says today.

The £1.4bn-a-year programme, which gives under-fives and their families assistance with education, health and parenting at children's centres, is "one of the most innovative and ambitious government initiatives of the past two decades", a report by the Commons children, schools and families committee says.

Begun in 500 of the most deprived areas, Sure Start has expanded to 3,500 centres, which some critics claim has diluted its impact.

However, today's report concludes that it would be "a backwards step to consider restricting access again".

Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said he feared an incoming Conservative administration would be tempted to cut the scheme before its effectiveness in helping children could be properly measured.

"This would be the height of short-sightedness, given that Sure Start will save huge sums in the longer term. It would be a very strange decision to invest all this taxpayers' money and then pull back so suddenly, pulling the work up by the roots."

Sheerman said his concerns were heightened when the only member to oppose the report was Graham Stuart, one three Conservatives on the committee.

Earlier this month, Gordon Brown said the Conservatives would cut Sure Start spending by £200m, forcing 20% of all centres to close.

Maria Miller, the shadow children's minister, dismissed this as scaremongering, saying the scheme had the party's full commitment.

The row heralds what is likely to be a lively election debate over the wider issue of early intervention, a doctrine which decrees that it is better and more cost-effective to tackle social problems before they start rather than coping with their effects.

This month the government announced the trial of so-called social impact bonds, a scheme under which private investors will pay for a charity to work with released offenders, receiving a dividend if this results in lower reoffending rates.

The Conservatives can in response boast the work of former leader Iain Duncan Smith and his Centre for Social Justice thinktank, a leading advocate of early intervention.