Chancellor Gordon Brown took time out from fine-tuning his budget on Wednesday to answer questions from schoolchildren.

Mr Brown submitted himself to a grilling from a trio of young reporters on subjects ranging from the environment to youth entertainment and foot-and-mouth disease.

Why do you spend so little money on the environment?

Esme Anderson Press Pack reporter

The children, 12-year-old Lily-May Thomas, and 11-year-olds Kate Marshall and Esme Anderson, won their first national exclusives through a competition for BBC One's Newsround.

All are members of the Press Pack, a club for budding reporters set up by the long-running children's bulletin.

They found out they had been selected for the rare pre-budget interview on Tuesday after submitting their questions to the programme.

Kate Marshall, from Chatham in Kent, asked the Chancellor: "Why don't you spend more money on entertainment to keep kids off the streets?"

Esme Anderson, from Greenwich, south-east London, wanted to know: "Why do you spend so little money on the environment when our generation are the ones who will have to live in it in the future?"

Sarah Macauley calming her husband before he undergoes a grilling.

And 12-year-old Lily-May Thomas, from Lincoln, wondered: "Where does the compensation money come from for the farmers who have been affected by foot-and-mouth disease?"

Their interviews, recorded in Downing Street, were broadcast on Newsround on Wednesday evening.