To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many breaches of information security there have been at (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in the last five years. (281055)

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) reports all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and to the Information Commissioner. Information on personal data incidents is published on an annual basis in the Department's annual resource accounts as was announced in the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008. In 2008-09 the FCO recorded no major personal data incidents that required reporting to the Information Commissioner. Nine personal data incidents were centrally reported and recorded. In each case mitigating action was taken. Figures for 2007-08 were published in the last year's annual resource accounts. It is not possible to provide the details for previous years without incurring disproportionate cost.

Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.