Councils have for "too long" viewed IT as a "black art that is better performed by external contractors" a new paper by Deloitte revealed.

Costi Perricos, author of the 'Taking Control of IT' report, which is based on Deloitte's experience of advising local councils, said the local authorities would be better advised to take "proper ownership" of their IT and develop good governance in order to achieve success.

Perricos claims that the success of mega IT deals were "rare" and resulted in IT functions that "lack centralised control".

"That's not to say the outsourcing of some IT functions can't work," he added, "but the days of the monolithic IT outsourcing deal -- that sees the entire council's IT capability outsourced to one supplier and managed by a small contracting team -- are numbered."

The research also said that savings of "up to 30 percent" could be made by councils by keeping work in-house and restructuring IT.

Discuss public sector outsourcing in our forum and download Deloitte's full report here