AMAZEMENT AT SCALE OF UK GOVERNMENT LOST AND STOLEN LISTS.
1,600 LAPTOPS, 500 MOBILE PHONES, ‘THE PLAGUE’ AND TREASURY CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS AMONGST MISSING LISTS.
SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson, John Mason MP, has published details of property lost or stolen from UK Government departments after parliamentary questions by the Glasgow East MP revealed an extraordinary tally of missing assets.
The answers to Mr Mason mean that at least 1,660 laptops, 505 mobile phones and Blackberry’s, and over 700 other items of IT equipment have been lost or stolen since 1997. Notable items to go missing over the last year include two Treasury corporate credit cards; 3 works of art from the Government Art Collection, including one work entitled ‘Plague’ by R.B. Kita; and six spider phones and a Wacom Bamboo A5 Pen and tablet.
The estimated cost of replacing items was more than £1.6million since 1997 – though since several departments were unable to provide details of items lost or stolen, the true cost is certainly much higher. In the case of the Ministry of Defence, for example, the Department was unable to detail the cost of the 974 laptop computers lost between 2003 and 2008.
Mr Mason said:
“Its not just public confidence that this Labour administration is losing it’s an absolute fortune in government property as well.
“It says it all when the department of Transport loses sat navs, the department of Culture loses artwork, and the Treasury has lost its corporate credit cards.
“In the wake of massive data loss scandals, these figures underline a shockingly cavalier attitude to security of assets right across departments. From IT equipment to art work it seems that nothing is secure.
“Of course, from time to time items are lost or stolen, but these figures are just mind-boggling. That the Ministry of Defence can lose almost a thousand laptops in five years is simply breathtaking.
“Indeed, it is not just the scale or cost of the losses that is disturbing but, in terms of IT equipment, there are serious questions about the security of the information they contain.
“These figures do not tell us if personal information – such as the twenty-five million child records lost by the government – relating to members of the public have also been lost along with the equipment.
“We must have a top level review of how government assets and data are handled. This should also sound the death knell of the government’s ill fated ID card scheme. If security it this lax why on earth should anyone trust them with yet more information.”
Note:
Please find attached table totalling accumulated losses since 1997.
Amongst the notable losses over the last year are:
Ministry of Defence:
- 974 Laptops (including 272 stolen in 2004 alone)
- In their response to Mr Mason the MoD claimed not to hold such information centrally, however, in a letter from the department in July 2008, held by the House of Commons Library, the MoD set out details of losses. A copy of that letter is attached.
HM Treasury:
- 2 corporate credit cards
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Department for Culture Media and Sport:
- Three works of art have gone missing from the Government Art Collection:
- ‘Monument to Balance', 4/30 print by Ernest A. Dunn
- ‘The Wording of Police Charges', 1970 print by R. B. Kitaj
- ' Plague ', 1970 print by R. B. Kitaj
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Department for Health
- 37 laptops over the last year
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
- 66 laptops
- 6 Spider phones
- 1 Wacom Bamboo A5 pen and table
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Department for Transport:
- 2 Satellite Navigation systems
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Department for Children:
- 137 Staff passes valued at £519.63
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
- In 2007/08 the department lost an official car valued at £22,500
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
The Foreign Office and DFID claimed not to compile details centrally:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
DFID
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
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