Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions his Department has been notified by external consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

Mark Lancaster

In the calendar year 2014 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was notified of 142 breaches involving document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials by external consultants or other third parties respectively.

In the calendar year 2015 the MOD was notified of 144 breaches involving document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials by external consultants or other third parties.

The MOD treats the security of its information very seriously and requires all breaches – however minor – to be reported. All such incidents are subjected to an initial security risk assessment, with further action taken on a proportionate basis.