Nearly three-quarters of the general public want to be consulted before councils outsource public service contracts, according to a new survey.

The poll, conducted for We Own It, also revealed 67% of people think public service contracts and performance data should be publicly available. There is also strong support for public services to be run by local councils, with 61% saying services should be run in-house before being outsourced.

We Own It has launched a new campaign, Our Services Our Say, calling on councils to give public service users more say over the future of services.

Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said: ‘The rights and views of the public are completely ignored in current debate about outsourcing. Our polling consistently shows that the public want more transparency, they want to be able to recall bad providers, and they want people to come before profit.’

Caroline Lucas MP added: ‘When services are owned by the people who rely on them, there is more accountability, more democracy, and the knowledge that profits aren’t ending up in the pockets of big business. This research clearly shows that people want to be consulted when local services are outsourced.

‘Local authorities should respond by doing what they can to be more transparent and accountable to the people who they represent.’