Government 'illegal' databases row

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Britain's "database state" puts children at risk and wastes billions of pounds a year, according to a report for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Of 46 databases studied, 11 - including a planned index of all children in England - should be axed, it said.

Significant problems were identified in a further 29 databases, which were recommended for independent review, while only six won the green light as being necessary and legal.

The privacy experts behind the report, commissioned after HM Revenue and Customs lost two discs containing a copy of the entire child benefit database in 2007, called for urgent "radical" change in the public-sector culture and for systems that put people first.

But they warned that politicians and senior civil servants view the personal data issue as "career-threatening and toxic" and do not want to get involved.

Co-author Professor Ross Anderson, of Cambridge University, said: "Britain's database state has become a financial, ethical and administrative disaster which is penalising some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

"Too often, computerisation has been used as a substitute for public service reform rather than a means of enabling reform. Little thought is given to safety, privacy and value for money."

Citizens should have the right to access most public services anonymously, while sensitive information should only be shared with the subject's consent or under clearly-defined "proportionate and necessary" legal rules, the report said.

Researchers looked at the 46 major public sector databases which hold personal information on everybody, or a significant minority, but said there are thousands in operation across Government.