The IT services provided by councils should be personalised for the end user, a transport chief is reported to have told public service technology agency London Connects.

Chief information officer for the Transport of London Phil Pavitt suggested his own organisation still has work to be done on "real-time" applications which enable transport-users to plan their journeys, allowing for factors such as route disruptions, ITPro says.

The website states Mr Pavitt gave the example of a facility on the London tube map to enable individuals to input personal height and weight data and find out how many calories they would have used up by walking the distance between stops.

He continued: "Many people would say 'so what?' but for someone who wanted to make a lifestyle choice, that would be a very important thing to do," it reports.

Meanwhile, the home secretary today launched a new website on which young people will be encouraged to air their views on identity cards.

Users of the site will be able to provide their views on what type of card may best suit their needs and their levels of trust in the government holding their data.

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)