Council "Lost" USB

I was amazed to see on the news last night that an employee of Leicestershire county council lost a USB dongle, the dongle contained data about old and disabled people, it also had their door entry codes, the council were praised for taking swift action to change all of the digital lock codes.

1. I wonder how much it costs to change all the codes / locks
2. Will the employee be disciplined
3. Why did such a person take the dongle out and about
4. Why was it not encrypted like most are these days

If an employee of a private company did that there would be serious repercussions and quite possible charges of corporate negligence, the council simply say they have changed the way they do things now, so all errors are just history.