EXCL MPs and peers lose dozens of taxpayer-funded iPads
3 min read
MP and peers have lost dozens of iPads which were bought with thousands of pounds of taxpayer cash, PoliticsHome can reveal.
Some 59 iPads were lost or stolen by parliamentarians or staff working in in the Palace of Westminster between 2015 and 2017, while another 24 were misplaced but eventually recovered, official figures show.
Campaigners said the losses showed the “lack of care too many in the public sector have towards our money” and raised concerns about sensitive information finding its way into the hands of wrongdoers.
But the House of Commons insisted the lost items were a “tiny proportion” of the devices issued and argued their approach to security was watertight.
Official figures published by Parliament also showed 11 laptops and 18 smartphones were never found after being lost or stolen, while even a desktop computer was also written off after going missing.
2017 was a bumper year for losing track of belongings, with 73 items registered as lost or stolen in Parliament, on trains, in taxis and at the homes of users.
One smartphone was stolen at a bar and never seen again while another went missing overseas.
In 2015 one iPad Air2 was left on a plane and one was stolen from a Shoreditch pub, while another was lost as its user moved house.
The lost or stolen items - of which there could be others that went unreported - are written off by parliament. But people who need replacement equipment are likely to be given pre-used devices.
Each new iPad costs around £400, while laptops are upwards of £1,000, meaning the total spent on the lost items is at least £25,000 - although prices fluctuate and their value will drop year on year.
James Price, campaign manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, told PoliticsHome: “The number of lost items, and their cost to taxpayers is bad enough, but this also speaks to the lack of care too many in the public sector have towards our money.
“If they can lose as many phones as this - a necessity in the modern world - how well can they be treating our money in other ways?”
Meanwhile David Evans, the policy director at the British Computer Society, raised concerns about the cybercrime implications of lost and stolen IT equipment.
“Losing any type of hardware, whether it’s a phone, tablet, or laptop obviously represents a real security concern,” he told PoliticsHome.
“The challenge for today’s security professionals is to work together to provide solutions which balance far higher security with ease of use, something much needed when dealing with confidential information both inside and outside Parliament.”
But the House of Commons assured the public that lost or stolen devices “can be wiped remotely and all laptops issued are encrypted”.
A spokesperson added: “The Parliamentary Digital Service provides secure IT equipment to thousands of Members and staff. The number of lost or stolen devices represents a tiny proportion of this number.”
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