David Cameron has said the government will set out plans to allow private and voluntary groups to run almost every kind of public service. He told the Daily Telegraph there would be a new "presumption" that private companies, charities and voluntary groups could run public services.

Ministers are due to publish a White Paper outlining the changes in the next fortnight. Mr Cameron promised to release public services from the "grip of state control" as part of his Big Society agenda.

Mr Cameron wrote: "We will create a new presumption - backed up by new rights for public service users and a new system of independent adjudication - that public services should be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service.

"Of course, there are some areas - like national security services or the judiciary - where this wouldn't make sense. But everywhere else should be open to real diversity."