Former health secretary Andy Burnham has told the Express & Star he acted on civil servant advice when he gave the go-ahead to Stafford Hospital’s controversial Foundation Trust bid.

Mr Burnham defended his actions as a minister in Gordon Brown’s Government during a visit to the West Midlands yesterday.

He admitted the Labour Government did encourage hospitals to go for FT status, which gave them greater freedoms from the Department of Health. He also claimed the assessment process was rigorous despite evidence to the public inquiry that the system was largely focused on finance rather than standards of care.

The MP, now shadow education spokesman, said he would be happy to account for his actions by giving evidence to the inquiry being led by Robert Francis QC.

Last week the inquiry heard Mr Burnham rubber-stamped the hospital’s application for FT status despite civil servant fears it was “borderline” and difficult to support. Despite their concerns they put it forward to Mr Burnham who sent it on to the FT agency Monitor for a final decision.

The hospital’s focus on gaining FT status and slashing £10 million from its budget and scrapping hundreds of jobs has been widely blamed as one reason standards fell so badly.

Mr Burnham, who as health secretary refused to hold a full public inquiry into the failures at Stafford, said: “There was a batch of hospitals which were put forward at the same time, Stafford was one of them.

“The clear recommendation of the civil servants was to pass it on to the next stage. I followed the official advice.”

He said the decision meant the trust would be “tested properly” by Monitor in a process which “no-one could say was too lax”.

The inquiry has heard that Monitor granted FT status to Stafford just five days before the Healthcare Commission launched its investigation into high death rates.

Mr Burnham added: “What happened at the trust was appalling. It wasn’t the Foundation Trust process. Managers had let staffing levels drop to unsafe levels.”