The Cabinet Office has revealed that nearly 800 electronic devices have been either lost or stolen in the past three years.

Official figures obtained from a Freedom of Information Act and analysed by Griffin Law show that in total 791 laptops, mobiles, Mifi wireless routers, and other devices had been lost or stolen.

61 per cent – or 479 – were mobile phones.

219 laptops were reported missing, accounting for 28 per cent of the lost devices.

The figures have sparked concern about confidential information on the lost devices.

“If people entrusted with official secrets as public servants – all too many still working from home – cannot look after our confidential data properly, what confidence can we have in the way we are governed?” said Donal Blaney, founder of Griffin Law. They should be prosecuted: otherwise it will once again be one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us.”

In 2021 it was reported that 4,800 devices used by government staff had disappeared over the past 5 years.

At the time, Liberal Democrat business spokesperson Sarah Olney said that the number of devices reported lost or stolen since the 2017 general election was “deeply worrying”.

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