HC Deb 29 January 2003 vol 398 c885W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in each of the last five years, broken down by each category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [93042]

Mr. Lammy

The Department takes any misuse of its information technology systems very seriously. All staff are regularly reminded of the Department's policy on misuse of IT, with detailed guidance contained in the document Acceptable Use of Information Technology available on the Department of Health Intranet.

The table shows the total recorded cases of computer misuse within the central Department of Health. A more detailed breakdown of these figures is not available. Management checks indicate only a small number of the breaches involve inappropriate content.

Type of misuse 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Totals
Internet 20 21 15 1 57
E-mail 1 2 9 4 10 26
Internet and e-mail 2 2 4
Total number of cases 23 23 26 4 11 87
Disciplinary Action Taken 22 22 26 4 11 85