Tax office staff who are allowed to work from home have lost thousands of mobile phones and laptops worth an estimated £1m over the past three years. The figures for last year show that staff at HM Revenue & Customs lost around 10 mobile phones and two laptops every week of the year. Over the past three years there were 1,670 mobile phones recorded as having been lost and 334 laptops that had disappeared, along with 10 USB computer memory devices. In addition, over the same time period there were 95 phones logged as having been stolen along with 562 laptops and one memory device logged as having been taken by thieves. If the average cost of replacement is estimated at around £500 then the cost of the lost phones and laptops is £1m, while the bill to replace the stolen electronic equipment is another £330,000. However, the bill could be even higher as many phones cost more than £800 and laptops often cost more than £1,000 to buy new. The figures are the latest in a series of negative stories about the workings of HMRC which include delays in handling telephone enquiries, an increase in compensation payments to customers...