Row after council laptop is stolen
Angry St Edmundsbury borough councillors have demanded to know why their personal financial details were stored on a laptop, which was stolen from an employee's home.
Suffolk Police have confirmed a laptop was stolen during a burglary at a property in Lackford, between 9.30am and 11.30am on Thursday, September 6.
The 1,380 council staff affected by the theft have been informed, security measures have been put in place to prevent them becoming victims of identity theft and an investigation led by Cllr Paul Farmer is under way.
Cllr Mark Ereira-Guyer, Labour group leader on the council, said: "We will be asking some hard questions of the council about why private information was contained on a portable laptop and we will need some quick answers."
Similarly, Cllr Trevor Beckwith said: "I am not very happy having my personal information held on a laptop and I want to know why it was there.
"I have been given reassurances by my bank but that doesn't stop me worrying about identity theft."
Cllr Farmer said: "The investigation is coming to a close and guidance has already been given to staff about both security measures and the use of information."
A spokeswoman for St Edmundsbury Borough Council said: "The laptop was being used at a member of staff's home for legitimate purposes. We have a flexible working policy which encourages staff to work at home.
"However, we also we have clear security procedures about what can and cannot be stored on computers away from our offices.
"Part of the investigation will be to look into breaches of security and what action needs to be taken to ensure this does not happen again."
Cllr Farmer refused to say which member of staff was responsible for the laptop. He also refused to say whether disciplinary action would be taken against the member of staff.
The council's spokeswoman added: "An investigation into this incident is under way. We will be making no further comment until it is complete."
The theft comes in the wake of a confidentiality breach committed by the council. Residents' addresses and benefit claims were mistakenly printed on the cabinet commitee agenda for a meeting held this Wednesday.
Confidential documents are usually printed on blue paper but some of them were mistakenly printed on white paper.
Although only a handful of the documents were circulated, those involved were upset by the mistake.
The council has apologised for the error and is looking into how it happened.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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