Secured-By-Design is the only award approved by the Police to police specification, which means Ultratec can destroy data for anyone and provide certificates for compliance with the Data Protection Act.

The firm also has the CCT government quality mark for IT security products and services.

Bill Osborne, service solutions consultant at Ultratec, said: “The government is screaming about the importance of security, by promoting services it does not realise it already has. Ultratec has two awards and all the equipment, but not enough people are aware.

“Ultratec destroys police data with an observer present. That observer then tests the disk or tape to prove that it no longer works. Certification is then supplied as a ‘get out of jail free card’ for the police if they are ever questioned under the Data Protection Act,” said Osborne.

He added that Ultratec eventually takes the destroyed technology away and disposes of it under the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive.

Di Addison, a representative for data destruction firm Charterhouse Müller, said: “The connection between WEEE and data destruction seems to have been missed. The government is rightly promoting the importance of WEEE and the environment, but not the responsibility of destroying data.”