To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s rules and procedures on the protection of confidential data kept by his Department on individuals, businesses and other organisations. (168308)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments’ procedures will be made on completion of the review.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many confirmed data security breaches there have been from his Department in the last 36 months; and what action was taken after each occurrence. (169899)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on how many occasions in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies confidential data have been downloaded on to compact discs (i) without and (ii) with encryption in the last 12-month period for which figures are available; how many of those discs have been posted without using recorded or registered delivery; what procedures his Department has in place for the (A) transport, (B) exchange and (C) delivery of confidential or sensitive data; what records are kept of information held by his Department being sent outside the Department; what changes have been made to his Department’s rules and procedures on data protection in the last two years; on how many occasions his Department’s procedures and rules on data protection have been breached in the last five years; what those breaches were; what procedures his Department has in place on downloading confidential data on to computer discs before its transfer; and what technical protections there are in his Department’s computer systems to prevent access to information held on those systems which is not in accordance with departmental procedures. (168330)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what procedures are in place in his Department to ensure that personal information relating to members of the public is (a) stored and (b) transported securely. (168481)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he proposes to review how his Department transports data; and whether his Department uses TNT to transport data. (169369)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department has taken to protect the personal data on members of the public which it holds. (171421)

I refer the hon. Members to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments’ procedures will be made on completion of the review.