Whitehall has never been known to be at the cutting edge of technology. The mandarin masters of SW1 have had more than their fair share of tech blunders over the years, from accidentally uploading data about the nuclear subs to the failed NHS ‘super computer.’ And it seems that, for all the numerous headline-grabbing cock-ups, things are getting little better in the monolithic ministries which govern our lives.
For now it transpires that nearly 5,000 laptops, mobile phones, memory sticks and external hard drives have gone missing over the past five years by ten government department departments, according to a series of parliamentary questions tabled by Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney. Despite repeated warnings about the dangers of sensitive information, the overall number of reported lost or stolen such items rose by 20 per cent between 2018 and 2021, with some 1,023 such items lost in the past 12 months alone.
The majority of these departments did not break their figures down into those items which were stolen and others which were simply lost.
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