According to the Daily Telegraph (not a paper I normally read), the Homes Office have lost 43 laptops and 94 mobiles in three years. This news comes days after the department lost a memory stick containing the details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.

It has emerged that officials lost more than 300,000 people’s details a month in the year to April.

This follows an endless catastrophe of lost data. Yes, remember the loss of two CDs containing the entire child benefit database, containing the details of 25 million families, last November, and we were promised everything would be tightened up.  These discs have still not been found.

Home Office data released in response to a question by the Tory peer Lord Hanningfield show that 43 laptops and 94 mobile phones have been lost or stolen at the department over the past three years – 15 laptops and 47 mobiles in 2007; 14 laptops and 10 mobiles in 2006; and 14 laptops and 37 mobiles in 2005.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence said that almost 600 laptop computers had been stolen in the past decade.

That admission came after Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, had to make a statement to the Commons about the theft of a laptop containing the personal details of 600,000 people from a car in Birmingham.

A Home Office spokesman refused to say what was on the 43 laptops, but added: “We do not believe that any of the lost laptops contained sensitive or classified information.” If they are unsure what information the laptops contained, then what really is going on in the Home Office; it’s about time someone is held to account.

Apparently they are determined to learn from earlier security breaches in government and they committed to ensuring that our systems and processes to protect personal data are as good as they can be. Haven’t we heard all this before?

Since the loss of details for 25 million child benefit claimants in November, Whitehall departments have begun including information on personal data losses in their annual financial statements.

  Commenting, Sarah Teather said:“It seems that this Government simply cannot be trusted with keeping sensitive information safe. It is frightening to think that secret MoD information can be lost or stolen.“This shows a shocking degree of incompetence across the entire Government.“When different departments are losing sensitive data left, right and centre it is no wonder that people have lost confidence in Gordon Brown and Labour.“How can they expect us to trust them to keep our personal information safe in their unnecessary and expensive ID card scheme?”
 

You are entering an alcohol- free zone.

Breaking the law could lead to fines of up to £500.

This is the warning council chiefs have issued in a bid to curb anti-social behaviour.  Signs warning people of new booze-ban areas have been erected around North East Lincolnshire.

The signs, which have cost around £10,000 to produce, are being fixed to lampposts throughout the alcohol-free zone area, which now includes the area up to and including the Fishing Heritage Centre.Parts of Cleethorpes will also have the new signs displayed prominently.Council Leader, Andrew De Freitas, said: “This is a tool to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder within our area. “It will enable our borough to be pleasant and safer for residents, visitors, shoppers and businesses alike by reducing noise, nuisance and litter.”Grimsby now has three alcohol prohibition zones. The first, which came into force on June 21, 2002, covers Freshney Place, Cartergate, Frederick Ward Way and Town Hall Square.The second, established on August 4, 2006, covers the area to the south of the town centre, including the railway station, Abbey Road and Doughty Road.

The third, introduced last month, takes the alcohol free zone as far north as Corporation Road, encompassing the heritage centre and Sainsbury’s.

Cleethorpes also has an alcohol free zone, running from the top of North Promenade as far as Cleethorpes Leisure Centre and stretching back to include the town centre.

Coun Steve Beasant, portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, added: “These signs set out in no uncertain terms the measures you will face if you are caught flouting the alcohol free zone.”

Inspector Tom Shaw, alcohol and violence reduction champion for Humberside Police, said: “Alcohol consumption in the zones will not be tolerated and persons flaunting the law will be dealt with accordingly.”

He urged retailers to be on their guard and ensure their customers are not underage or under the influence when buying alcohol.