MPs have called for a parliamentary inquiry into companies planning to outsource work abroad.

The demand came as Commons Leader Peter Hain said that firms outsourcing call centre work contribute to Britain's prosperity with expanded services and more jobs.

He told MPs that evidence from the Call Centres Association suggested that those companies outsourcing part of their work were receiving a large return as a result.

He said: "A surplus is coming back into this country enabling them to expand services and create more jobs and contribute to the prosperity of the country."

The debate came on the day union leaders raised fears that hundreds more jobs were to be moved to India.

A rail inquiries call centre in Cardiff, south Wales, will close in March, threatening 400 jobs.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association was seeking urgent talks with Serco, which runs the centre.

The news came as other union bosses were meeting managers at insurer Aviva to oppose its plan to cut 2,350 jobs and move work to India, where labour costs are about 40 per cent cheaper than in this country.

York MP Hugh Bayley called for a debate on the impact of globalisation on the telecoms industry so "we can assess the risks it poses to jobs in Britain and to minimise those risks".

David Clelland, MP for Tyne Bridge, echoed calls for a debate after saying that in his constituency Lloyds TSB was closing call centres and transferring work to the Indian sub-continent with a loss of almost 1,000 jobs.