Ministers knew that 3 million L-drivers' records were missing six months ago

A computer disc drive containing the names, addresses, emails and phone numbers of British learner drivers - one in ten of all motorists in the UK - disappeared in Iowa six months ago.

A minister was told of the astonishing blunder in June - yet incredibly the public were only told yesterday, when Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly issued a statement to the Commons.

Everyone who sat the multiple choice driving theory test between September 2004 and April this year is affected by the Government's latest missing records scandal.

The revelation comes only weeks after Ministers apologised for the loss of two CDs carrying personal information of 25 million individuals receiving child benefit.

And today it was revealed that the personal details of 6,000 private pension holders had been lost by HM Revenue and Customs.

In the latest lapse to come to light, HMRC admitted that it has lost a computer cartridge containing the names, postcodes and National Insurance numbers of customers of a private pensions firm after signing for the package at a centre in Wales.

Families will be stunned that their private information is yet again at risk of being abused by fraudsters.

And learner drivers will also want to know why their personal details are sitting on a computer more than four thousand miles away.

Miss Kelly apologised for the latest blunder yesterday and said she had demanded an investigation by police in the U.S.

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The disc drives went missing in May from the offices in Iowa City of Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd - the private firm which runs theory tests for the Government's Driving Standards Agency.

Company sources said last night that Pearson reported the blunder "immediately" to the DSA.

Its chief executive Rosemary Thew told the then Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman on June 4, and Pearson imposed a review of security.

Yet the Department for Transport insisted last night that Miss Kelly was only informed of the breach on November 28, during an audit of all Whitehall departments for security breaches following the loss of child benefit records by Revenue-and Customs.

Douglas Alexander, Gordon Brown's close ally, was Transport Secretary at the time of the security lapse. But officials insisted he had not been told of the loss by his junior minister.

Mr Ladyman is now a backbench MP after being sacked by Mr Brown in his first reshuffle.

The Data Protection Act 1998 states that personal data should not be sent outside the European Economic Area unless "adequate protection" is in place - raising yet more concerns about the Government's practices.

The 3million candidates took the theory test on computers at test centres across the UK, and the results were sent electronically to Pearson's offices in Iowa where they were downloaded on to a hard disc.

The records contained the name of the test applicant; their postal address; their telephone number; the test fee paid; their theory test centre; a code indicating how the test was paid for; and, where provided, an email address.

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Last night Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd - a sister company of media giant Pearson Holdings - said it "deeply regretted" the blunder.

Miss Kelly told MPs: "I apologise for any uncertainty or concern that these individuals may experience."

She insisted that no financial details had been disclosed and said Information Commissioner Richard Thomas had indicated the case "does not appear to present a substantial risk to individuals".

She said the hard disk drive was formatted to fit Pearson's configuration and was "not readily usable or accessible by third parties".

But motoring experts say that if the information can be accessed there could be a real danger criminals could assume the identities of law-abiding drivers.

Critics say the fiascos over lost data could kill off plans for identity cards - because the Government had shown itself unable to protect the personal data of Britons.

It is also a setback for road-pricing plans - which would rely on access to the personal data of all 33million UK drivers.

Tory transport spokesman Theresa Villiers said: "Following the catastrophic breach of confidentiality at Revenue and Customs we have now another very serious failure of data security."

Edmund King of the RAC Foundation said: "The Government is giving potential criminals all the information they need to commit serious and watertight car fraud."

LibDem acting leader Vince Cable said: "There is absolutely no way that the Government should be allowed to proceed with even more centralisation of valuable personal data: be it for compulsory ID cards the DNA database or the NHS case records system."

Chancellor Alistair Darling updated MPs on the Governmentappointed inquiry into the benefits blunder, saying there was little progress in finding the two discs.