To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) attempts and (b) successful attempts made to gain unauthorised access to (i) databases and (ii) ICT systems run by each local authority were reported to his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (286550)

This issue is a matter for individual local authorities who, like all public sector organisations are required to comply with data protection legislation.

The Local Government Association (LGA) have published “Data Handling Guidelines for Local Government” to complement the Central Government Data Handling Guidelines published by the Cabinet Office. We welcome the LGA guidelines which are available online at:

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=9040133