After an analysis of public spending transactions, Think tank the Institute for Government and start-up firm Spend Network has announced that IT companies benefit the most from government contracts in 2012 and 2013.

Key findings from the analysed 38 million transactions involving 247 central and local government bodies include:

- HP was the largest single beneficiary with more than £1.7bn accrued takings in each of the past two years

- 180,000 supplier names featured in the analysis and the top 20 had contracts worth at least £10.2bn in 2013 - 20% of the spending examined

- In the top 20, six are IT suppliers, six are in construction and two are in outsourcing

- Second beneficiary is Capgemini earning 82% + of its government revenue, or £850m, from the Aspire contract, which involved an overhaul of the IT systems at HMRC

- Other featured outsourcing and IT companies in the top 20 include Capita, Serco, Fujitsu, Atos IT, IBM, CSC

However, be warned – they note that caution should be used as the data may not be accurate and needs further verification.

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