Home Office has lost 43 laptops - 25th Aug 2008 11:38pm
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THE Home Office has lost 43 laptops and 94 mobiles over the last three years in the latest data bungle to hit the gaffe-prone department.
It comes days after a memory stick containing the details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales was misplaced.
The loss of the computers and phones was revealed after a query by Tory peer Lord Hanningfield. He said it was a “woeful failure” and called for an inquiry, adding: “Given the sensitivity of the Home Office’s work — including its lead role in the fight against terrorism — this is all the more worrying.
“This is, of course, also the Government department with responsibility for ID cards.
“There now needs to be an urgent review of what data was lost on these laptops, its sensitivity and possible impact on any work — as well as a wider review of the Home Office’s security policy.”
A total of 15 laptops and 47 mobiles were lost by Home Office staff in 2007.
The year before 14 laptops and ten mobiles went missing, while in 2005 14 laptops and 37 mobiles were mislaid.
It is the latest in a string of embarrassing IT losses for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
Last November, two discs containing the financial details of 25million families on the child benefit database went missing.
And it emerged last week that Government officials lost the details of 300,000 people a MONTH in the year up to April 2008.
A laptop containing the details of 17,000 Sats exam markers was also stolen.
Last December it emerged that details of three million learner drivers from the UK had gone missing in America.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said last night: “If the Home Office cannot safeguard such basic equipment, how can they be trusted to deliver ID cards containing the personal data of millions?”
A Home Office spokesman said they did not believe the lost laptops or phones contained “sensitive or classified information”.
He added: “The Home Office is determined to learn from earlier security breaches and is committed to ensuring our systems and processes to protect personal data are as good as they can be.”
It comes days after a memory stick containing the details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales was misplaced.
The loss of the computers and phones was revealed after a query by Tory peer Lord Hanningfield. He said it was a “woeful failure” and called for an inquiry, adding: “Given the sensitivity of the Home Office’s work — including its lead role in the fight against terrorism — this is all the more worrying.
“This is, of course, also the Government department with responsibility for ID cards.
“There now needs to be an urgent review of what data was lost on these laptops, its sensitivity and possible impact on any work — as well as a wider review of the Home Office’s security policy.”
A total of 15 laptops and 47 mobiles were lost by Home Office staff in 2007.
The year before 14 laptops and ten mobiles went missing, while in 2005 14 laptops and 37 mobiles were mislaid.
It is the latest in a string of embarrassing IT losses for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
Last November, two discs containing the financial details of 25million families on the child benefit database went missing.
And it emerged last week that Government officials lost the details of 300,000 people a MONTH in the year up to April 2008.
A laptop containing the details of 17,000 Sats exam markers was also stolen.
Last December it emerged that details of three million learner drivers from the UK had gone missing in America.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said last night: “If the Home Office cannot safeguard such basic equipment, how can they be trusted to deliver ID cards containing the personal data of millions?”
A Home Office spokesman said they did not believe the lost laptops or phones contained “sensitive or classified information”.
He added: “The Home Office is determined to learn from earlier security breaches and is committed to ensuring our systems and processes to protect personal data are as good as they can be.”
the goverment are meant to destroy all data.. Not sell it.. Well if you think about it they would get loads of money for a laptop with personal details wouldnt they or the fact the goverment employ noobs and there so dumb to leave there car window or something..
