Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions his Department has been notified by external consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials in each of the last two years.

Our records show 57 breaches by commercial third party suppliers in handling secure materials for the years in question. This is broken down by year as follows:

2014/15 - 47

2015/16 - 10

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has rigorous formal procedures for reporting, investigating and monitoring any incidents involving the loss or compromise of sensitive data for which it is responsible. Our policies and procedures are designed to ensure that we are compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998 and HMG’s Security Policy Framework. Responsibility for this compliance is shared with Suppliers through appropriate contract terms and conditions.