Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23481, of the 57 breaches in handling secure materials there identified, how many breaches concerned documents within each of the following categories applicable prior to April 2014, namely (a) top secret, (b) secret, (c) confidential, (d) restricted, (e) protected and (f) unclassified; and how many breaches concerned documents within each of the following categories applicable from April 2014, namely (i) top secret, (ii) secret and (iii) official-sensitive or official.

Mr David Lidington

The figures quoted in my answer of 28 January to written question 23481 referred only to the period since April 2014. The information on breaches prior to April 2014 are not held centrally and could be collated only at disproportionate cost. The number of breaches from April 2014 onwards are as follows:

Classification:
Top Secret

Number:
1

Comment:
There was no loss of data related to this breach.

Classification:
Secret

Number:
0

Classification:
Confidential

Number:
12

Comment:
The Confidential classification pre-dates the introduction of the Government Security Classifications (GSCs).

Classification:
Official-Sensitive

Number:
43

Comment:
Official – Sensitive is not a classification under GSC and is a caveat. Materials designated Official or Official-Sensitive does have a level of protection; however loss of its control does not warrant a breach as per existing Cabinet Office guidelines.

Classification:
Official

Number:
1