PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice has pledged to step up his battle to save a key storage centre for government benefit files in his constituency from privatisation.

He is furious that the file store in Clover Hill in Nelson, is likely to pass into private hands.

Yesterday he staged a special debate in the House of Commons Second Westminster Hall Chamber on the issue.

He told Work and Pensions Minister, Des Browne, that the move was strongly opposed by local staff.

He said he was appalled that then the government proposed the privatisation it had not allowed an in-house bid by the civil service.

Some 120 people work in the Nelson file store which has 48 miles of shelving and the main storage area is the size of the pitch at the former Wembley Stadium.

Mr Prentice pointed out to Mr Brown that recently the store, which holds nine million welfare benefit files currently not being used, had been praised for the speed in which it managed to retrieve files and send them to local benefit offices.

In one case a computerised file had been delivered in six minutes.

The Labour backbencher said that the civil servants at the file store, one of 56 across Britain which could be sold to a firm such as TNT or US company Iron Mountain, did not wish to be transferred "lock, stock and barrel to the private sector."

He said that sensitive welfare files on citizens should be kept in the public sector.

And he was worried about whether the speed and efficiency of the file stores could be compromised.

However, Mr Browne refused to answer any of his questions about the affect of the transfer and whether workers rights would be protected in the long term.

Mr Browne said an in-house bid had not been invited because the task was too great for such a move to be successful.

Mr Prentice said afterwards: "I am not happy with the response. I am very disappointed.

"I shall still campaign for in-house bid by the civil service. I don't want this key service for welfare claimants, who often really need the money, transferred to the private sector."