Bradford's MPs today backed a call for Health Secretary John Reid to answer questions on the financial problems being faced by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

As revealed by the T&A on Saturday, the powerful House of Commons Health Select Committee is demanding answers on how the Trust came to be facing a £4 million deficit just seven months after gaining flagship Foundation status.

The committee wants to quiz the Health Secretary after failing to get satisfactory answers from Department of Health bosses.

Financial advisors were sent in earlier this month by the independent regulator, Monitor, to check the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust's books after it emerged they could end up millions of pounds in the red.

The regulator could revoke the hospitals Foundation Status if it discovers serious failings.

Labour backbencher and MP for Bradford West, Marsha Singh, said he was concerned about the situation and added: "As far as my understanding goes there have been some technical issues and the volume of work has gone up.

"The independent regulator has written to me and I have responded to him by asking for a meeting.

He said: "The Select Committee are an independent committee and I believe they will try to get to the bottom of things."

David Hinchcliffe, chairman of the committee, told fellow MPs at a meeting last week that the Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital appeared to have been given Foundation status even though its finances did not add up.

Mr Hinchcliffe said "sources in Bradford" had informed him that the Primary Care Trusts owed the hospitals £2.5 million at the time and this had contributed to the deficit the Bradford Hospitals Trust was now carrying.

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe said the move by the Select Committee could prove to be good news for the Trust if it helped tackle financial problems.

He said: "It is a good idea for the Select Committee to have a look at what has taken place because of the unique nature of this being a foundation hospital.

"The fact that they have foundation status has meant the regulator has come in quickly and this has stopped the problem getting worse.

"The hospital's Foundation status has given prominence to a funding problem that exists between PCTs and hospital trusts.

"The problem has been put on the table and I hope that the committee follows through."