Ministers under fire over records

Ok, I dun hv a habit of posting real news here but this news is bizarre enough.

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The government is braced for more criticism over the loss of two computer discs containing the personal details of 25 million people. The CDs feature information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, child benefit and national insurance numbers, and bank account details.

The discs were sent from HM Revenue and Customs to the National Audit Office by contract courier but failed to arrive.

Banks have advised customers to monitor their accounts for signs of fraud.

The chairman of Revenue and Customs, Paul Gray, has resigned.

Chancellor Alistair Darling told MPs how the entire child benefit database was sent by a junior official from HMRC in Newcastle to the audit office in London through courier TNT on 18 October.

The chancellor said the official had broken the rules by downloading the data to disc and sending it by unrecorded delivery.

But he reassured those affected that police had no reason to believe the discs had found their way into the wrong hands, nor did they have any evidence of it being used for "fraudulent purposes or criminal activity."

Bosses at the Revenue were not told about what had happened until 8 November and Mr Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown learned about the situation on 10 November.

The chancellor said he had delayed an emergency statement to the Commons because banks and building societies had asked for time to prepare and make sure security procedures were in place.

The officials involved waited before informing their superiors in the hope that the discs would be found.

The Metropolitan Police is leading the hunt for the discs, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which oversees the HMRC, is investigating the security breach.

A TNT spokesman said that because the discs had not been sent as recorded it was not possible to verify if they had ever been posted. He added that the company would not be responsible for any losses incurred.

The chancellor said the Banking Code would protect the public from any fraud committed as a result of the loss.

BBC News political correspondent Jo Coburn said that despite assurances from Mr Darling there were still serious questions about how this could have happened.

The position of the chancellor could come under threat if it emerged that the information had been used for illegal purposes, she added

Jane Kennedy, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, acknowledged that mistakes had been made.

She told BBC News: "What happened was a clear breach of what is laid down in terms of the rules.

"I accept that there are very serious issues for us to address. That is why we are working so hard to address them.

"This data should not have been handled in the way that it was. It should have been protected to a much greater level than it was."

'Shadow Chancellor George Osborne told the government to "get a grip and deliver a basic level of competence".

Liberal Democrat Acting Leader Vince Cable asked: "Where does the buck stop in this government?"

Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University's computer laboratory thinks the government's strategy of centralising information is too risky.

He said: "This was an accident waiting to happen and if it hadn't happened in this particular case it would have happened elsewhere."