Ministry of Defence has lost 28 laptops this year

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that it has lost 28 laptops already this year.

In a written parliamentary statement, Minister of State Bob Ainsworth said that the lost equipment included the 28 laptops, four PCs that were lost or stolen, as well as 20 portable flash memory (USB) devices, in statistics up to 11 May.

He said: The MoD takes any loss of information and associated media storage devices very seriously and has robust procedures to mitigate against such occurrences."

Ainsworth claimed that "new processes, instructions and technological aids" were being used to "mitigate" human error.

He also said that the MoD was actively trying to raise awareness of every individual that was involved in the government department.

The MoD has a history of losing devices.

Early last year lost MoD recruitment laptops led to government offices being locked down, while last September a memory stick containing military personnel details was lost in a Newquay night club.