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More than 1,000 gov't laptops lost since 2001
Calls for end to "shocking carelessness"

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Tuesday 01 April 2008

Government departments have misplaced more than 1,000 laptops and almost 500 mobile phones - either lost or stolen - since 2001.

The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr) is the latest to reveal figures in response to questions from Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, Sarah Teather, about the loss of gadgets across government departments.

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In parliamentary written answers, Berr admitted it had lost 96 laptops since 2001 (along with 82 mobile phones and nine PDAs) taking the total figure to more than 1,000 lost laptops across all government departments.

Back in February silicon.com reported several departments - including the Ministry of Justice - had admitted to losing more than 200 laptops.

In addition to these figures, the Ministry of Defence has previously admitted to losing 347 laptops since 2004. Secretary Des Browne also admitted that three MoD laptops containing around 600,000 details of servicemen and recruits have been stolen since 2005.

Adding to the total tally is the Department for Work and Pensions which also admitted last week to losing 271 laptops, 128 mobile and 20 PDAs over the course of the past seven years.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs lost 94 laptops, 10 mobile phones and 23 PDAs during the same period, while the Department for Children, Schools and Families revealed it has misplaced 84 laptops and 25 mobiles.

In a statement, Teather said: "Year after year the taxpayer is footing the bill for this government's shocking carelessness. It is time we had a complete rethink on the way electronic equipment is protected."