Off the back of recent research, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has requested more transparency in outsourcing dealings between the public and private sector.

The ICO claims that there has been more pressure on the public sector to be open with information regarding outsourcing contracts, but that the same has not been the case with the third party suppliers involved.

ICO research has also found that a high percentage of the public want private firms to be subject to the same freedom of information requests that central and local government can be.

Steve Wood, Head of Policy at the ICO, said: ‘It isn’t a secret that the growth in outsourcing has led to a fall in transparency, as freedom of information laws haven’t always been able to follow the public pound. But this isn’t an insurmountable problem.

‘We’re calling on public authorities and contractors to consider transparency from an early stage, before a contract is even signed.'

Wood went on to suggest that the government may need to ‘step in’ to ensure that the public can access the information that ‘they should be entitled to.’

This news comes shortly after Computer Weekly revealed that the coalition government has fallen short of its pledge to be more transparent with public-private contracts, which it committed to in 2010.

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