Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and laptops were lost by No. 10 Downing Street in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

As per my answer to the hon. Member for Harrow West on 19 June 2013 (Official Report) Column Ref: 741W.

As was the case under the previous Administration, there are occasional incidents where equipment is reported lost or stolen. Staff are required to report such incidents, and cases are investigated. Laptops which will hold sensitive equipment are encrypted and mobile phones disabled as soon as an incident is reported.

It is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison for the period covered by this question because there has been a substantial increase in the number of mobile phones and laptops issued to staff and the Department has been affected by various machinery of Government changes.

Details of items for the Cabinet Office are as follows:

2014 numbers will be finalised in due course.