To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in her Department have been (a) disciplined and (b) dismissed for (i) inappropriate use of the internet while at work and (ii) using work telephones to access premium rate telephone numbers in the last 12 months. (149190)

The total number of Home Office staff, including those within the Border and Immigration Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau, who were disciplined for misuse of the internet between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 is 26. This includes any misuse of IT including misuse of the internal e-mail system. As fewer than five members of staff were dismissed for inappropriate use of the internet, specific information about those individuals is withheld on confidentiality grounds.

Fewer than five members of staff were disciplined for inappropriate use of the telephone during the same period and this information is also withheld on the grounds of confidentiality.