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Personal details of 18,000 benefit claimants lost by Government in new security blunder
Last updated at 19:07pm on 03.12.07
Chris Grayling: 'This is an exceptionally disturbing development involving highly sensitive personal information'
Personal details of 18,000 benefit claimants were lost by the Government in another missing discs blunder, it emerged yesterday.
An ex-contractor at the Department for Work and Pensions had the unencrypted CDs - containing names, addresses and National Insurance Numbers - for more than a year, it has emerged.
The whistleblower said she forgot to return them after she stopped working for the DWP 12 months ago. But, incredibly, nobody at the DWP bothered to ask for them back.
They were part of a project aimed at encouraging people to switch from a giro to a credit transfer system, with up to 9,000 names on each disc.
The CDS were originally mailed to the woman by post - the same method used to dispatch the two discs containing the sensitive details of 25m people recently lost by HM Revenue and Customs.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is an exceptionally disturbing new development involving highly sensitive personal information.
"The fact that it hasn't been copy protected is further evidence of a cavalier attitude towards data protection in government departments. Ministers need to explain urgently how they are going to put things right."
The whistlebower, whose identity is being kept secret, said: "The public should know how the DWP is so lackadaisical with their private details. I believe this and the other revelations are just the tip of the iceberg."
It came as police continued the frantic search for the two missing HMRC discs. The department sent CDs containing the entire child benefit database, unregistered and unencrypted, to the National Audit Office - but they did not arrive.
Police now fear the discs may have accidentally been thrown out as rubbish, and have visited several tips around London to check what waste was delivered there.
Letters apologising to the blunder have been sent to incorrect addresses, leading to further security breaches.
An interim report on the fiasco will be handed to Chancellor Alistair Darling within the next two weeks. The inquiry, by Keiran Poynter, will also examine revelations concerning other m issuing discs.
Mr Darling has already admitted security needs toughening up regarding "bulk transfer".
Those whose details were on the two lost DWP discs, which have now been returned to the Government department, included the grandparents of football star Wayne Rooney, William and Pat Morrey.
Pat Morrey, 76, who lives in Liverpool, said: "It's ridiculous the way things are going missing."
A DWP spokesman said the department took the security of customers' data "extremely seriously".
He added: "Although there is no indication that any customers' data was compromised by this incident, we are investigating and will ensure the safe return of the information."
Reader views (9)
And STILL stupid people would trust government having an ID database.
- Garry Anderson, Haverhill UK
This all seems so carefully contrived, another criminal ( she admits she should have returned them) pops out of the woodwork saying I've sinned.
- Horace, UK
This is confusing two issues. The real question on the new story is why the contractor had the disc at home in the first place. The responsibility is then on the contractor to return the disc, which they did not do. That contractor, rather than being called a whistleblower, should be on a blacklist and never employed by government again.
- Bob Smith, London, UK
Why does this happen so often? These Nu Labor guys also want to issue electronic ID cards, they just put our medical records on a "central" database and they want HIPS reports on our houses! This should be cancelled. It is the wrong way. Nu Labor is not safe!
- Georgie, London
How can we expect the Government to 'learn from their mistakes' when we have not learnt from our mistakes - namely voting them in for a third term.
- Dan, Manchester
We all heard that the Home Office was not fit for purpose at the beginning of the year. What is not clear is what has been done to improve the Home Office? If it is like any other local or central government department I assume there has been a few thousand meetings on the subject and absolutely no action.
- A. N, London
And still nobody gets the sack. What a farce.
- Lezli Taubler, London, UK
On 21-12-05, national media were reporting discovery of "organised crime" within the Department of Work and Pensions of the banana republic of Britain. Why bother about a few disks?
- Jack, London, UK
The government takes the security of customers' data "extremely seriously"?
"Customers": when did everyone stop being voters?
And I guess this must be the Monty Python version of "extremely seriously".
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
