Oh no, minister! Blears could face police inquiry after laptop is stolen in new data blunder

A Cabinet minister was facing the threat of a police investigation last night after a computer containing classified information was stolen from her office.

Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, may have breached Whitehall rules by allowing sensitive documents to fall into criminal hands.

And last night there were fears that the documents  -  several marked 'restricted' and one marked 'confidential'  -  set out sensitive details of the Government's strategy for dealing with Muslim extremism, as well as defence and security issues.

It is the fourth serious security breach in a week.

Last night the Prime Minister faced the prospect of having a senior minister, who previously served in the Home Office, investigated for a violation of the Official Secrets Act.

Miss Blears, responsible for the so-called Prevent drive of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy, is believed to have had sensitive documents emailed from her ministerial office to her personal computer, kept in her constituency office in Salford.

It was stolen during a break-in on Saturday, being investigated by Greater Manchester Police.

A statement from her office said: 'The PC did not contain any secret or top-secret information and the contents of the PC are protected.'

But a senior source said: 'This is clearly another breach. If it's material from Prevent then it's quite sensitive.'

Under the classification system for sensitive documents, there are four categories that cover material under the Official Secrets Act: restricted, confidential, secret and top-secret.

The Mail understands that some of the documents on the laptop were marked 'restricted' or 'confidential'.

Tory frontbencher Ben Wallace said: 'If, as it appears, some of these documents were marked restricted and confidential then that would be grounds for an investigation under the Official Secrets Act.'

Senior civil servants and ministers can use secure Government laptops that allow them to access sensitive documents remotely.

But it is understood Miss Blears's personal computer would not be equipped with security-approved technology.

Under the 1989 Official Secrets Act it is an offence to fail 'to take such care to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of the document or article as a person in his position may reasonably be expected to take.'

A furious Gordon Brown ordered the Cabinet to remind their officials of the importance of following procedures. Downing Street said he was aware of the breach when he told the Cabinet to act against the loss of information from departments.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'The news that a Government minister may have been directly responsible for the loss of data relating to extremism is extremely alarming.

'It comes after a series of security breaches over which Government appears not to have regained control

'The Government must urgently clarify what happened in this case. If Hazel Blears has breached security rules in relation to material she has handled, Parliament must be told exactly how and why this has occurred.'

Peter Housden, permanent secretary for the Department of Communities and Local Government, said: 'It is clear that papers have been sent to Hazel Blears in a way that is not fully consistent with the departmental guidance.

'Thankfully no damage has been done since the documents sent to her were not classified as secret or top secret. And in any event the computer was password protected.'

ANALYSIS

The loss of Hazel Blears's laptop is the fourth breach in security in just a few days.

Last week, a senior Cabinet Office official was suspended after leaving top-secret documents on a Waterloo-bound train. They are said to include details on Al Qaeda and Iraq security.

And a day later, Treasury papers covering global terrorist funding, drug trafficking and money laundering were found on a separate train.

Jacqui Smith is to face a Commons Home Affairs Select Committee following the blunder.

In a third security breach, a laptop belonging to Rob Beckley, the deputy chief constable of Avon and Somerset, who has access to counter-terrorist intelligence, was stolen from his car outside Marylebone station, in London.