London councils have lost or had stolen over £1million worth of laptops, tablets and phones, it has been revealed amid mounting concerns over cyber security. A total of 2,619 devices were recorded as either lost or stolen over the past three years, costing what councils estimate to be £1,078,635.54 of taxpayers' money. The shocking figures were retrieved under the Freedom of Information Act by the Parliament Street think tank, which analysed data from 22 London councils.

Richmond upon Thames reported the most devices - making up 13 per cent of all lost and stolen equipment - with 334 laptops, phones and tablets worth over £160,000. However, a Richmond Council spokesperson said the figures covered both Richmond and Wandsworth councils due to a shared services arrangement.

"Given our shared services arrangement with Wandsworth Council, our IT estate supports around 4,500 staff across both boroughs. This naturally increases the number of devices in circulation," they said.

Southwark and Haringey councils also reported high numbers of missing devices, while Ealing Council reported just 14 as lost or stolen.

Laptops were the greatest cost to London councils, with 926 lost or stolen devices costing £655,443.54. Phones represented £274,374 of the total, with tablets making up the remaining £148,818.

The revelations come following a major data breach against The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster City Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which reported "significant disruption" to IT services in November.

A statement from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea confirmed: "We have now obtained evidence on our systems that shows some data has been copied and then taken away."

It remains unclear whether that data included personal or financial details of residents.

A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said there was currently no evidence of their systems being compromised.

Cyber security experts warned the high volumes of lost devices posed a serious risk to public data.

Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point, said: "Sky-high volumes of lost devices are the perfect Christmas gift to fraudsters and cyber criminals who are always on the lookout for their next target.

"Councils are trusted with managing the most confidential data imaginable, including home addresses, payment details and personal information, and the public rightly expect the highest security measures to be in place.

"Whilst everyone understands that occasionally phones go missing, it is time for London's councils to beef up their cyber protocols, increasing encryption and doing more to ensure staff remain vigilant to the risks of losing phones."

Richmond Council insisted it took security seriously and had measures in place to protect data.

The spokesperson said: "Richmond Council takes the security of council devices and data very seriously. We work hard to minimise unreturned or lost devices, with clear processes in place to recover assets or apply charges where appropriate.

"All council devices are fully encrypted and have remote-wipe capability, and the majority of information is stored securely in the cloud."

They added that where equipment could not be reused, suitable devices were donated to local charities.