Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of his Department's (a) laptops, (b) mobile phones, (c) memory sticks and (d) external hard drives have been lost or stolen in each of the last five years.

Our records show the following devices were reported lost or stolen in each year in the last five years. The data was captured on 7th December 2022.

BEIS have a policy for the controlled use of memory sticks. These are only permitted with a valid and approved business case and using authorised, hardware encrypted devices. Once approved, individual Directorates are responsible for controlling the memory sticks, therefore no figures on loss are held centrally.

BEIS have a policy for the controlled use of external hard drives. These are only permitted with a valid and approved business case and using authorised, hardware encrypted devices. Once approved, individual Directorates are responsible for controlling the external hard drives, therefore no figures on loss are held centrally.

All departmental IT is fully security encrypted.

The departmental security unit records and investigates each reported loss from the Department. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.