Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Education and Science, further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 409 to 416 of 20 May 2008, if the teachers concerned were informed of the theft of the computer containing their records; if not, the reason they were not informed; if he will make the teachers concerned aware of the theft; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25060/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The laptop which was stolen from an Inspector's car contained draft reports on quality and standards in the classrooms of teachers on probation. The teachers concerned were not informed of the theft of this laptop as:

(a) the laptop was used by the Inspector for occasional work only and an exact list of the draft reports on the laptop at the time it was stolen was not available and

(b) the stolen laptop had a dual level of password protection

(c) my Department considers that no personal data was compromised due to the theft of this laptop.

My Department has recently published a Policy for Protection of Data while using Laptops and other Mobile Data Devices. This has been circulated to all staff and includes advice on how to protect data while using laptops and other mobile data devices as well as steps to be taken in the event of devices being lost or stolen.