SG lost or broken electrical equipment: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/01715
Date received: 25 July 2017
Date responded: 15 August 2017

Information requested

1. How many laptops has the Scottish Government lost, broken or misplaced in each of the last three financial years? What is the total cost in each year?
2. How many smartphones/tablets has the Government lost, broken or misplaced in each of the last three financial years? What is the total cost in each year?
3. What is the most expensive item lost in each of the last three years?

Response

The table attached provides a breakdown of some of the information you request regarding devices which have been lost or misplaced. This is shown for Scottish Government staff. An estimated value for the items lost or stolen is included, based on the cost of a brand new replacement as opposed to the actual depreciated value of the item at the time of its loss or theft.

Robust procedures and guidelines are in place to help secure information outside the office. Scottish Government laptop and tablet devices are password protected for each individual user and hard-disk drives are protected by encryption software.

Blackberry devices are encrypted and are remotely wiped if reported as being missing or stolen. These devices are also protected by a complex password which also results in the device being wiped after a number of unsuccessful attempts to access a device.

As a result of these measures which protect the information on devices, official data could not be accessed or amended/deleted by any individual without appropriate passwords, encryption or remote id tags.

With regards to laptops, smartphones, and tablets which have been broken in the last three years, this is formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have asked for in this part of your request. The Scottish Government does not keep a record of devices reported as broken, all devices which experience hardware failure are fixed and replaced under the manufacturer's warranty.

3. What is the most expensive item lost in each of the last three years?

This is formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have asked for in this part of your request.

The figures provided below are based on the estimated cost of purchasing a brand new replacement item rather than the value of the asset lost. Scottish Government do not record the value of lost assets, we purely record details of the incident and take actions to remotely wipe and/or disable the device.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses

FOI 17-01715-Lost Electronic Equipment-Response.pdf

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1 page PDF

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38.1 kB