Up to 24 “blacklisted” West Yorkshire construction workers should receive compensation after being denied jobs, MPs say.

The “morally indefensible” practice – which targeted staff for simply raising legitimate safety concerns – is condemned after an inquiry by a parliamentary committee.

Its report accuses major firms of continuing to dodge responsibility for setting up an organisation – the Consulting Association (TCA) – to operate the blacklist, which included eight Bradford construction workers identified by the GMB union when it revealed the names of 24 West Yorkshire workers included on the list. The MPs’ report calls for a consultation to decide “what compensation, how determined and from whom, should be provided to those individuals affected”.

Labour MP Ian Davidson, chairman of the Scottish Affairs Committee, said: “We are appalled by what we have discovered during our committee hearings.

“Thousands of workers and their family members, had intrusive, private information filed away about them so that they could be systematically discriminated against.

“Workers were denied employment without explanation, financial hardship was caused, lives were disrupted or ruined.

“There was no right of appeal, or challenge, to the information held or the decisions made.”

The list was first uncovered in 2009, when the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) seized a Consulting Agency national database of 3,213 construction workers.

None of the people who were on the list were informed by the ICO and many were left in the dark about why they had become “unemployable”.

The report quotes the blacklist for targeting workers who “showed signs of militancy over safety”, or who disputed “the non-payment of several weeks wages”.

Mr Davidson said: “Some of the actual entries on the blacklist beggar belief - snippets of malicious gossip about workers and their family members masquerading as ‘information’.”

The report found the blacklist “appears to have been largely established by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd”. Major subscribers included Skanska and Balfour Beatty.

However, it is thought the “vast majority” of the 3,200 people on the list are still unaware they were targeted.

Calling for greater efforts by the ICO, the report said: “People must be made aware that they have been blacklisted if they are to be able to seek any form of redress.”

And it said: “It seems clear to us that, if someone is consistently denied work because of the presence of their name on a blacklist, that should entitle them to compensation.”

An inquiry will assess whether compensation is due to people who “had to move out of their home area for work.