Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and laptops were lost by his Department in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

The information that is available is provided in the following table, which includes details of items that were reported as lost or stolen:

*to 30 June 2014

The Department takes its statutory responsibilities to protect data and assets extremely seriously; however the above figures need to be viewed in the context of the number of users given that as at 31 March 2014, the Department employed over 88,000 staff.

The Department requires all portable devices to be encrypted, so as to protect the data contained on that media.

Where items have been stolen, necessary investigations are conducted, involving the police as appropriate.