Data on broken Scottish Government devices: FOI release

Information requested

How many Scottish Government purchases, owned or distributed phones, laptops and tablets have been reported as broken or damaged beyond reasonable use in 2024?

Please provide separate number per category (e.g. Laptops, mobile phones, tablets)?

Please provide the estimated cost of the items that were broken, and if replacements were purchased the cost to replace by category (e.g. laptops, mobile phones, tablets)?

Please provide data on how many devices were broken per department, authority, or directorate?

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits outlined in Section 12 of FOIA, please provide advice and assistance under Section 16 as to how I can refine my request.

If at any point in retrieving this information the time limit exceeds that which is given to Freedom of Information requests, please stop and email me with the information retrieved so far.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

As a first course of business, Scottish Government IT staff will attempt to fix laptop or tablet malfunctions in-house where possible. Where this is not possible, devices will be sent to the warranty provider. The data on assets sent to the provider do not contain all of the information requested, but we have attempted to answer all parts of the request where possible.

In 2024, 553 laptop devices and 11 tablets were deemed damaged beyond economical repair. This means that whether or not it was technically possible to fix the device, factors such as the age of the machine or cost of the repair made the repair uneconomical. The data on file does not show exactly what each asset was replaced with. However, the cost of replacing a standard laptop during this period was £623 plus VAT and standard tablet replacement was £1,172.23 plus VAT.

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, the remaining questions were not able to be answered.

Asset data for laptops and tablets broken beyond economical repair does not include the business area which was using the device, meaning we cannot provide a breakdown of devices by department, authority, or directorate. Additionally, mobile phone acquisition and replacement is handled by each business area and there is no equivalent record for damaged mobile devices. As such, this is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.