The Government has refused to reveal if it uses information extracted under torture by foreign countries, according to an influential Commons committee.

The Foreign Affairs committee today criticised the Government for twice refusing to answer the question, and urged ministers to come clean.

The committee conceded that there were compelling arguments for evaluating information about impending terror attacks. But to operate a general policy of using information extracted under torture risked encouraging it.

The committee said: "We find it surprising and unsettling that the Government has twice failed to answer our specific question on whether or not the UK receives or acts upon information extracted under torture by a third country.

"We recommend that the Government give a clear answer to the question.

"The Government should ensure that it is understood by other governments that the mistreatment of British nationals is unacceptable and will be met with appropriate action.""

The committee also said that the Government should criticise America for its treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

It says that now British detainees have been released there is no need for the Government to keep quiet about the oppressive conditions.

It says the Government should make "strong public representations" to the US and raise the matter with the UN Commission for Human Rights.

Porter Goss, the head of the CIA, recently admitted to the US Congress that he could not guarantee that interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay in the past were in line with international law against torture. He said that things were different now.

Tony Blair has told MPs in the past that Britain had found information extracted in Guantanamo Bay and other US detention centres "very useful" in the war against terrorism.

Amnesty International, the human rights group, backed the committee's criticisms. A spokesman said: "Amnesty International shares the committee's concerns at the Government's apparent evasiveness.

"It is difficult to avoid concluding that the Government is chillingly indifferent over the question of using blood-stained information.

"We have repeatedly emphasised that information extracted by torture is not only morally repugnant but also totally unreliable and effectively useless.

"The Government should make it absolutely clear that it would not use information gained through torturing people."

The Foreign Office said it would respond to the report in due course. A spokesman added: "The Government condemns the use of torture and has worked with international partners to eradicate the practice.

"The Government never uses torture or instigates others to use torture."

Today’s report also raises concerns about human rights abuses in Turkey and says they must be ended if the country is to join the EU.

It also praises the Foreign Office’s response to the Asian tsunami disaster, but warns that the Indonesian government must not use the tragedy as a smokescreen for human rights abuses.

On Darfur, the committee said the international community’s response was "slow and inadequate" and lives had been lost unnecessarily as a result.

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