COUNCILS have been accused of being negligent with residents’ personal information after research uncovered a “worrying scale” of data loss.

Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset councils are among 132 local councils nationwide who have admitted to losing documents, computer records or hardware in the past three years.

The instances were compiled by the pressure group Big Brother Watch.

Dorset County Council responded with four instances; electronic files containing recruitment details of 40 people were lost by a contractor; paper records containing grounds for a school appeal were sent to the wrong applicant; paper records of a foster care review were sent to the wrong foster carer and paper records containing diary details, contacts and assessment notes were stolen from a car.

David Wilson, data protection officer for Dorset County Council, said: “We have worked hard to make sure any confidential information we hold is protected.

“We regularly train staff about how to keep information safe and have taken steps to make sure confidential details do not fall into the wrong hands.

“This has included encryption for laptops and memory sticks as well as the introduction of secure email facilities.

“Any data loss is a serious cause for concern and each incident is fully investigated and appropriate measures are taken to prevent it happening again.”

Bournemouth council said it could only provide details of incidents from 2010/11 because information was not held centrally and it would be too time-consuming and costly to go back to 2008.

The incidents reported were of legal documents being lost in the post, the theft of a laptop and two occasions where an email was sent to the wrong recipient.

The only instance reported by Poole council was the theft of a laptop.