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Government admits over 850 laptops lost since 2002

Kablenet.com

Published: 27 Mar 2008 17:01 GMT

The Department for Work and Pensions alone has seen 248 laptops go astray over the last six years.

Staff at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have reported 248 laptops lost, stolen or missing between 2002, the department's first full year of existence, and 2007.

Over the same period, the department lost 127 mobile telephones and 20 PDAs.

The information was provided in a written parliamentary answer by DWP minister Anne McGuire to Liberal Democrat shadow business secretary Sarah Teather on Wednesday. A series of questions by Teather led to the revelation that more than 850 laptops have been lost, stolen or gone missing from government departments since 2002.

DWP laptop losses peaked in 2004, when 75 went missing. In 2007, just 15 went astray, but these were joined by 19 PDAs. Previously, the department had only lost one such device. Last year also saw 14 mobile phones go missing, compared with 34 in 2004 and 15 in 2006.

Other answers to parliamentary questions by Teather have revealed that the Department for Transport saw 105 laptops, as well as 145 mobile phones, lost or stolen, between 2002 and 2007. Over the same period, 45 Treasury laptops and 148 Ministry of Justice laptops went missing.

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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs lost or had stolen 81 laptops from the start of the 2002/03 financial year to date, while the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its predecessors mislaid 81 laptops and 23 mobile phones over the same period. The Communities and Local Government body and its predecessors mislaid 28 laptops.

The Department of Health lost or had stolen 116 laptops and 110 mobile phones in the five years between 2002 and 2007. Minister Ben Bradshaw added that, since 2005, the department has marked all laptops with a forensic dye, with a high-visibility label to show this; laptop losses between 2005 and 2007 came to 29, compared with 57 for the two years previously.

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills said it has lost no mobiles, PDAs or laptops since its foundation in June 2007, while the Wales Office also reported no laptop or PDA losses since 2001, although two phones were reported missing.

Members and staff of the Houses of Commons have had 33 laptops lost and stolen since 2002, although 17 of these were new machines taken in 2005 from the back door of 7 Millbank, and these had not been allocated to users.