MOD reveals more than 350 of its devices lost or stolen in last year

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has revealed that more than 300 of its devices have been lost or stolen in the last year.

Defence Procurement Minister James Cartlidge divulged the information following a Parliament question from Liberal Democrat Spokesperson Sarah Olney, who inquired at the extent of losses in the department last year.

A total of 383 items, including 185 laptops, 98 mobile phones, and 30 memory sticks, were lost or stolen during the year.

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The following table includes the number of lost or stolen devices in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in the last year:

Mr Cartlidge highlighted: "The recording system does not differentiate between losses and thefts and so the numbers are amalgamated. The costs for replacing items is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost."

In March, following another request for information on the items missing or stolen in the MOD, said: "It (MOD) is a very large organisation which employs over 229,000 personnel worldwide.  

"All breaches of security are taken very seriously. MOD Policy requires all breaches to be reported regardless of whether there is firm evidence of loss or just an inability to account for some devices."

Here is the breakdown of the lost and stolen electronic devices from January 2022 to December 2022:

The MOD further stated in the response to the March information: "It is also MOD policy that all laptop, tablet computers and removable media are encrypted to minimise the impact if a loss were to occur.

"Investigations indicate that many of the losses identified are in fact accounting errors highlighted by security mustering processes".

A comparison between the 2022 and 2023 figures appears to show that there has been a notable increase in devices going missing from the MOD.

There were more promising numbers last year, as in comparison to 2021, the total number of lost and stolen electronic devices in 2022 (147) was significantly lower.

The total number of lost and stolen electronic devices in 2021 was 311, with the following breakdown: