Laptop
Dear Local Government Ombudsmen,
When did Tony Redmond last purchase a laptop computer (with public funds) and how much did it cost? Did he return to the Commission the one that he was replacing? If he did, what then happened to it?
Please give the same information for the Deputy Chief Executive and the Ombudsmen.
Yours faithfully,
angela mayall
Dear Ms Mayall
Our ref: CS/10/080
This is to acknowledge receipt of your I request below received on 26 July. I will respond within the 20 working day target (which would be by 23 August 2010) or, if unable to do so, I will write to you again explaining why.
Yours sincerely
Hilary Pook
Communications & Records Manager | DL: 020 7217 4734 |
Local Government Ombudsman's office | 10th Floor |
Millbank Tower | Millbank | London | SW1P 4QP |
www.lgo.org.uk |
Dear Ms Mayall
I attach a letter in response to your request below.
Hilary Pook
Communications & Records Manager | DL: 020 7217 4734 |
Local Government Ombudsman's office | 10th Floor |
Millbank Tower | Millbank | London | SW1P 4QP |
www.lgo.org.uk |
chris taylor left an annotation ()
Just amazing. Ms Pook says "Computer equipment that is replaced is first offered to staff in a secret draw (ie staff put their names forward and items are distributed by drawing names out of a hat) after being reformatted to delete all material held on the hard drive. If equipment is completely unusable or not wanted, it is disposed of through a specialist disposal company".
So... they give usable, and wanted, public property to the staff for nothing! Why don't they auction it? They don't even give it to an old peoples' home! I am astonished, but then again nothing surprises me anymore about the CLAE.
Has anyone ever come across a Local Authority that gives away public property?
Trevor R Nunn left an annotation ()
"after being reformatted to delete all material held on the hard drive."
Anyone with any knowledge of computers knows that reformatting a hard drive does not delete all material held on it. It is quite easy to recover information from such a drive.
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard...
Basically the CLAE are guilty of allowing data to fall into the hands of private individuals. Who knows what family members and friends of the recipients are capable off and how recovered information has been or will be misused?
The recipient could even sell the computer on Ebay or at a car boot allowing anyone to recover the information.
So much for data security in the CLAE! The question on my mind is how much of my private and personal has been recovered from an ex CLAE computer because of their gross incompetence in protecting data?
Trevor R Nunn left an annotation ()
Confirmation from the link above: "Note that reformatting a disk does not erase the data on the disk, only the data on the address tables. Do not be panic, however, if you accidentally reformat a disk that has useful data. A computer specialist should be able to recover most, if not all, of the information on the disk. You can also buy programs that enable you to recover a disk yourself."
Anne Hide left an annotation ()
Found this about Laptops on the Government's Spending Challenge website.
http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov...
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Pauline Nunn left an annotation ()
They also have a Blackberry at taxpayers expense.