Over 500 high-tech gadgets that belong to the British government’s Ministry of Justice have gone missing over the past 18 months as careless employee’s frequently lose their government issue devices and cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds a year as a result.
The list is made up of 27 computers, 71 BlackBerrys and 293 other high-tech devices that puts the cost to the department well into the tens of thousands of pounds at a time when Ken Clarke, the departments head, is trying to slash the budget overall and trim some £350m from the annual expenditure.
The cost is just one factor however as some fear that these gadgets could store some sensitive information on them and the worry is this information being used in a criminal way should it fall into the wrong hands. Emma Boon, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, has expressed her outrage of this leaked information and argued that the careless nature of the Ministry of Justice employees is in scant regard to the taxpayer who is, after all, funding the issue of these tech devices.
The data concerns were apparently put to rest however as a spokesperson from the department explained that all the technological devices that were issued to government employees – including all laptops and Blackberry’s – are heavily encrypted and also password protected so any fears over sensitive information falling into the wrong hands has seemingly been dispelled. Although the spokesperson went on to say that a full investigation goes into each missing high-tech device.