HC Deb 12 March 1996 vol 273 cc583-4W
Mr. Ian McCartney

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the cost and number of items of equipment and furniture that(a) have been stolen and (b) are otherwise unaccounted for from his Department and its agencies in each of the past five years, listing by name any such items valued at £5,000 or more, and showing information technology material separately. [19033]

Mr. Horam

For the purpose of the table, items stolen and otherwise unaccounted for are combined because it is not possible in all cases to distinguish one from the other. The losses of information technology equipment have occurred against the background of a substantial increase in the Department's provision of such equipment, and an increasing frequency of break-ins by professional criminals in search of computers and their components. The Department constantly reviews its security measures in the light of these losses.

Calender year IT items (number) IT items (estimated cost) £ Other items (number) Other items (estimated cost) £
1991 6 7,460 14 3,340
1992 11 25,710 - -
1993 55 93,080 27 3,880
1994 136 147,358 20 1,852
1995 350 231,249 31 771

Items valued at £5,000 or more are a Toshiba T6600/DX2 laptop computer, cost £5,500; a Sun Sparcserver (including disk and memory) cost £25,590; a RAID Array, cost £23,120 and a Toshiba 3200 laptop with Feline Analyser Board, cost £8,000.