The government has lost 53 laptop or desktop computers
in the year sinceHMRC mislaid two discscontaining the
details of 25 million people.
Government departments also lost 30 mobile phones, 36
Blackberries, four disc drives and four memory sticks.
Information security was propelled into the spotlight after the
two discs were lost last year, with several other
high-profile data losses hitting the headlines since then.
Tory MP Grant Shapps asked government departments to reveal what
went missing over the year. The figures showed the Department of
Health lost the most computers, with 14 disappearing. The
Department of Children, Schools and Family were next with 13 lost.
The Department of International Development lost nine, and the
Department of Transport five.
The Home Office and the Ministry of Defence both refused to
respond to the questions.
Shapps said, "With more than one official computer going missing
each week, not to mention numerous hard drives and memory sticks,
today we are calling on the government to urgently review data
security right across Whitehall."