"They are difficult figures to get your hands on."

Ed Wallace, development manager at Nesta, a charity that promotes innovation in the UK, agreed with Curtois.

He said: "From my time in local government, I can tell you that putting together a business case internally is an absolute nightmare. The figures that you think would be easy to get access to and get hold of just aren't."

Wallace believes that councils spend an "inordinate amount of time" trying to get access to figures that would build a strong business case.

The government 29 suppliers that were successful at bidding for work under the PSN Services Framework. It follows the award of the PSN Connectivity Framework earlier this year, with both frameworks intended to significantly cut the public sector's networking and related services costs.