MPs and human rights campaigners are putting pressure on the government to hold an independent inquiry into allegations of British complicity in torture.

The parliamentary joint committee on human rights published a highly critical report today criticising ministers for failing to answer questions over the allegations.

Members of the government have refused to give oral evidence to the committee and have failed to respond to specific questions about the treatment of individual detainees, the report said.

Seven former Guantanamo detainees are bringing test case damages claims at the High Court against MI5 and MI6, the Attorney General, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office.

The joint committee's report also calls for the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which is appointed by the prime minister to oversee the work of MI5 and MI6 and reports direct to Downing Street, to be reformed.

The cross-party group of MPs and peers has suggested that the scrutiny group become a parliamentary committee with an independent secretariat reporting to MPs.

The joint committee has also asked ministers to publish the instructions given to security service officers on the detention and interviewing of detainees overseas. The prime minister has pledged to do so, but nothing has been released yet.

Committee chairman Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, said: "The allegations we have heard about UK complicity in torture are extremely serious.

"It is unacceptable both for ministers to refuse to answer policy questions about the security services, and for the director general of MI5 to answer questions from the press but not from a parliamentary committee.

"Establishing the ISC as a parliamentary committee would establish ministerial accountability to Parliament.

"As to what may have happened in the past, general assertions of non-complicity are no longer an adequate response to the many detailed allegations.

"An independent inquiry is the only way to get to the bottom of these stories, clear the air and make recommendations for the future conduct and management of the security services.

"The recent allegations should be a wake-up call to ministers that the current arrangements are not satisfactory. We look to the government to respond positively to our recommendations and not to continue to hide behind their wall of secrecy."

The accusations of complicity currently being discussed in the High Court include the case of British resident Binyam Mohamed who claims he was visited three times by an MI5 officer while he was held and tortured in Morocco.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the government's failure to answer questions were "damaging the good name of this country", while former shadow home secretary David Davis said the refusal to publish the guidelines for security service officials "smacks of a cover-up".

The joint committee's call for an independent inquiry has been welcomed by Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and campaign groups such as Amnesty International and Liberty.

Foreign office minister Ivan Lewis has denied that the government has anything to hide and pointed out that ministers had already answered questions in parliament.

He described torture as "abhorant", and not something Britain would "engage in, collude with or condone" but, he told the BBC, international allies did not always have the same standards.

"We can't possibly stop working with those countries in terms of our national interest or the security interests of British citizens, but we also make it clear in every debate in the international community about acceptable standards that torture can never be justified.

"We don't have anything to hide, but what we do have to say is that this is incredibly complicated. It's very sensitive, and it's a balance between the highest standards of human rights - and Britain will always fight to protect those - and sometimes protecting the security of our citizens."