‘We'll publish every government contract worth over £25,000 in full – every clause, every performance measure, every penalty trigger.’

This was a pledge made by David Cameron on 22 February 2010, accompanied by a manifesto commitment and a clause in the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

This complete public-private transparency was in part intended to aid ‘small businesses, charities and social enterprises’ in their competition to procure government services.

However, Computer Weekly has reported that, since that day, £5 billion worth of contracts involving public deals have not been published, and many of the published contracts have been stripped of all meaningful details.

Computer Weekly also reported that, shortly after Cameron made his pledge in 2010, the Cabinet Office sent a private letter to its suppliers giving them permission to redact all information that they considered confidential. Government and suppliers have since been accused of being overzealous with what information they remove from the contracts before they are published.

Charles Kenny, who has conducted research into government contracting transparency for the Global Center of Development, said: ‘It is easier to over-redact and avoid an angry confrontation than to under-redact and face very limited pressure from civil society.’

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