It has been suggested that to help the government tackle crime and terror threats, an enormous database should be created which logs details of every email and phone call made by Britons.

Officials have suggested the Home Office should be able to retain such information for 12 months in order to allow easier police access to communications data.

The database would also retain information about the internet pages individual Britons are visiting.

However, criticisms of the scheme have been raised, including concerns that the government would be unable to handle such a volume of information.

Some commentators have suggested that this is an inappropriate and intrusive plan.

These plans follow the development of a National Staff Dismissal Register, which goes live later this month and has been criticised by some as potentially allowing former bosses to target innocent employees.

Commentator Jon Kelly, writing for the BBC, remarked that some critics see it as an "Orwellian nightmare".

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent)