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Local government risks a ‘huge, Whitehall-style' loss of data, unless councils invest heavily in new IT and security systems, SOCITM has warned. John Serle, author of SOCITM's annual report into local government IT, told LocalGov.co.uk's sister titles, The MJ, the sector had avoided a loss of personal data similar to that at the Revenue and Customs department in 2007 – when discs containing the details of 25 million child benefit claimants went missing – ‘more by luck than judgment'. Mr Serle's 2009 report, published last week, warns that ‘out-of-date management practices' and poorly-planned introduction of new technologies systems across councils ‘represent a serious threat to organisations', despite the ‘wake-up call' provided by Whitehall's poor performance. Mr Serle told The MJ that as councils had developed new, cheaper forms of flexible working arrangements for staff, such as mobile working or remote IT access, they had ‘often neglected to shore up their security systems', and were now at heightened risk of serious data breaches. ‘The way staff now routinely move data around on memory sticks, discs or via unprotected e-mail systems, for example, exposes local government unnecessarily,' he said. Large-scale data breaches have so far been limited across local government. Last August, Charnwood BC launched an investigation into claims that a man in Scotland had bought a hard drive containing thousands of council taxpayers' personal details on the EBay online trading platform. But these examples are rare. However, one council contacted by The MJ said it had informally surveyed staff who revealed that, as part of their working practices, some regularly left offices with sensitive data in their possession. The authority has since clamped down on such practices. SOCITM's study warns: ‘In order to comply with [government] guidelines, local authorities will need to look closely at their data security procedures. ‘As the risks to systems and infrastructure... change, it is vital that ICT managers adopt a process of regular assessment to ensure the organisation is appropriately protected.'

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WHITEHALL

SOCITM warns sector faces 'major risk' of loss of data

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