- Title or Description
- Council Devices reported as Missing, Lost, Damaged or Stolen
- FOI Number
- 20250878
- Date Received
- 08/07/2025
- Type of Request
- FOI
- Request or Question
-
1) How many council provided or funded tablets given to staff/pupils at local state schools have been reported as missing, lost, damaged or stolen - please provide information for the years 2020-2025 (to date). 2) Please do the same for laptop and mobile devices each identified in separate sections (e.g. phones: 5, tablets: 10, laptops:
3) Please provide a total estimated value of these lost/damaged etc items
4) In instances where items were reported as deliberately damaged, lost or stolen, please detail any fines given out including reason (lost, damaged etc), amount fined if monetary, and other disciplinary action - if the number of cases exceeds ten please provide a total figure instead - please do this to the same years as outlined above
4) Out of these fines or lost devices, how many have been recovered (please provide a section for fines and a separate one for recovered/repaired devices)? I - Response
-
1) and 2 We are unable to provide the exact details you have requested and therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held. However, we are able to provide the specific number of devices lost and found for 2024 and 2025 though are unable to break these down to the specific type of device.
This is as follows: Year Lost Found Stolen Damaged Missing
2025 10 6 0 0 0 2024 13 1 0 0 0
We are also able to provide a cumulative number for devices that were lost, found and stolen from 2020-2025 which is as follows:
Lost Found Stolen Damaged Missing Total from
2020-25 48 8 1 0 0
The reason for the disparity between the two reports is that the systems were recently changed and the information available from each system was slightly different.
3) We are unable to provide the exact details you have requested and therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.
4) Scottish Borders Council does not issue fines to parents or pupils in relation to council-provided devices. In cases where a device is lost or deliberately damaged, schools may request that parents cover the full cost of a replacement. However, this is not treated as a fine, and no formal monetary penalties are imposed. Instead, schools implement intervention strategies tailored to individual circumstances. For example, where there have been repeated breakages, a pupil may be restricted to using their device only within school premises for a period of time. These measures are designed to support responsible use and minimise further incidents 4) Out of these fines or lost devices, how many have been recovered (please provide a section for fines and a separate one for recovered/repaired devices) As fines are not issued, there is no data held on fine recovery. Regarding devices, schools do not categorise repairs in a way that allows for specific tracking of recovered or repaired items following loss or damage. Therefore, we are unable to provide a quantified response to this question and therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002
