Leaders: ‘The council is right not to take chances’

It is not the first time sensitive information has gone missing, but the fact that this time it involved details of vulnerable children makes it all the more worrying.

The city council is right not to take any chances even if the risk is small, and it has acted properly to work with the police and contact those  involved.

It clearly cannot be blamed for the theft of a laptop from an independent consultant but it should use the case to ensure procedures are tightened in the future.

Council staff have to abide by strict rules when carrying sensitive data on laptops or memory sticks, and we must ensure this is extended to anyone working on the city’s  behalf.

There are also questions over whether so much information should have been stored on a laptop in the first place.

The risk would clearly be lessened if historic information was instead downloaded and stored securely in a central location rather than carried around. We don’t know the details but was it really necessary for this person to have information about “dozens” of individuals on their  machine?

Thankfully, in this case, it seems likely the thieves will have been far more interested in the re-sale value of the computer rather than doing anything sinister with the information it contained.

We can only hope the files have been long since wiped.

Truly inspiring

what a day for sports fans in the Capital. Everyone in Edinburgh is extremely proud that Britain’s greatest ever Olympian was born and bred – and served his sporting apprenticeship – in the city.

Welcoming Sir Chris Hoy home was always going to be an exciting occasion after watching his gold medal-winning exploits on TV.

And it was fitting that the city capped the occasion by presenting him with the rare honour of the Freedom of Edinburgh.

But yesterday was about more than just that. It was also a chance to celebrate the achievements of all our inspirational Olympians and Paralympians.

It is just a pity that we had to wait five weeks to see our heroes in the flesh. Just imagine how much more excitement there would have been – and how much bigger the crowds – if we had been given the chance to do this within ten days of the medals being dished out.