Martyn Hart took part in a live Guardian online debate on Thursday 11th August. How far can the public sector go in offshoring IT services overseas?

Offshoring has jumped back onto the government ICT agenda recently but the debate was concern whether there is any real benefit in shipping provision overseas.

There are those who say offshoring services as part of delivering back office functions and IT support has been happening for some time, and it's gaining respectability as government strains to save on a large scale. The question is, how far should public sector go in outsourcing IT services overseas?

To read all comments on the debate:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/aug/05/online-debate-offshoring-public-sector-ict