Security probe after data scandal

Defence Secretary Des Browne told MPs a Navy laptop stolen in October 2006 contained most of the same data that was on a computer taken from an official's car in Birmingham this month.

But ministers were not told about the earlier theft in Manchester - or that of an Army laptop with data on 500 people stolen from a recruiting office in Edinburgh in 2005 - until recent days.

The Tories demanded to know the full scale of the problem - producing official statistics showing more than 600 MoD laptops and PCs had been stolen since 1998.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said the "catastrophic" loss of data would damage morale in the armed forces and worsen problems with retention and recruitment.

Mr Browne, said by officials to be "furious", said he could not understand why such information was carried around routinely "or indeed why the database retains this information at all".

The data included passport, National Insurance and driver's licence numbers, family details and NHS numbers for about 153,000 people who applied to join the armed forces, as well as banking details of around 3,700 - and some details on hundreds of thousands who simply expressed an interest.

There was no reason to believe the latest laptop was targeted for the data it held, he said, or any indication it had fallen into the hands of extremists.

The laptop was stolen from a Royal Navy recruitment officer after being left in a car in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham on the night of January 9, but the theft was only disclosed on Friday night by the MoD after details began to leak.

Mr Browne said the previous incidents had originally remained local matters and none of the individuals warned because it was assumed the data had been encrypted under military rules. But it was now clear that was not the case, he admitted, blaming "shortcomings in security training and awareness among the relevant staff".