Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing.

 

The Child Benefit data on them includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25m people.

 

Chancellor Alistair Darling said there was no evidence the data had fallen into criminal hands - but urged people to monitor their bank accounts.

 

The Conservatives described the incident as a "catastrophic" failure.

 

In an emergency statement to MPs, Mr Darling apologised for what he described as an "extremely serious failure on the part of HMRC to protect sensitive personal data entrusted to it in breach of its own guidelines".

 

MPs gasped as Mr Darling told them: "The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families. "

 

The chancellor blamed mistakes by junior officials at HMRC, who he said had ignored security procedures when they sent information to the National Audit Office (NAO) for auditing.

 

Mr Darling told MPs: "Two password protected discs containing a full copy of HMRC's entire data in relation to the payment of child benefit was sent to the NAO, by HMRC's internal post system operated by the courier TNT.

 

The package was not recorded or registered. It appears the data has failed to reach the addressee in the NAO."

 

He added: "The police tell me that they have no reason to believe that this data has found its way into the wrong hands.

 

"The police are not aware of any evidence that it has been used for fraudulent purposes or criminal activity."

 

The data was sent on 18 October and senior management at HMRC were told it was missing on 8 November and the chancellor on 10 November.

 

Mr Darling said banks were adamant that they wanted as much time to prepare for his announcement as possible.

 

He added: "If someone is the innocent victim of fraud as a result of this incident, people can be assured they have protection under the Banking Code so they will not suffer any financial loss as a result."

 

Mr Darling said people should monitor their accounts "for any unusual activity".

 

He said police were investigating the disappearance of the two discs. He also announced that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which monitors HMRC, was likely to investigate the incident.

 

It is the latest and by far the most serious of a string of missing data incidents at HM Revenue and Customs.

 

HMRC chairman Paul Gray resigned earlier after the latest incident came to light.

 

'Get a grip'

 

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: "Let us be clear about the scale of this catastrophic mistake - the names, the addresses and the dates of birth of every child in the country are sitting on two computer discs that are apparently lost in the post, and the bank account details and National Insurance numbers of 10 million parents, guardians and carers have gone missing.

 

"Half the country will be very anxious about the safety of their family and the security and the whole country will be wondering how on earth the government allowed this to happen."

 

He urged the government to "get a grip" and said it was the "final blow for the ambitions of this government to create a national ID database" as "they simply can not be trusted with people's personal information".

 

Liberal Democrat Acting Leader Vince Cable said it was now the Treasury and not the Home Office that was "not fit for purpose".

 

"Why does HMRC still use CDs for data transmission in this day and age? The ancient museum pieces it is currently using for computing must be replaced.

 

"After this disaster how can the public possibly have confidence in the vast centralised databases needed for the compulsory ID card scheme.

 

"Where does the buck stop after this catalogue of disasters?"

 

'Searching questions'

 

Giving his reaction, the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, said: "This is an extremely serious and disturbing security breach."

 

Mr Thomas welcomed the Chancellor's announcement of an independent review of the incident by Kieran Poynter of PricewaterhouseCoopers and said he would decide on further action once he has received the report.

 

"Searching questions need to be answered about systems, procedures and human error inside both HMRC and NAO," said Mr Thomas.

 

The prime minister's official spokeswoman said Gordon Brown has "full confidence" in Mr Darling. She added that Mr Darling has not offered to resign.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm

Great huh?

 

And they expect us to hand over DNA, retina scans and finger prints?

 

Yeah, they can dream.

They took their time announcing it.

They don't want to announce the loss of 2 CDs before they've had a chance to look in all the bins :o

Private details of EVERY family in Britain 'lost' by taxman in major security blunder

 

Private details of EVERY family in Britain 'lost' by taxman in major security blunder

 

Names and addresses of 25m UK children among missing data

 

 

Last updated at 18:48pm on 20th November 2007 Comments (121)

The Chancellor was rocked by a new crisis this evening over the loss of confidential bank details of virtually every family in Britain.

Alistair Darling had to make an emergency statement to the Commons revealing that records of 7.2 million bank accounts of all parents or guardians who claim child benefits had gone missing.

MPs gasped when he revealed that the names, addresses, bank numbers and National Insurance numbers of all those affected had been on two computer discs which had been lost.

A total of 25 million people's names are on the discs, potentially leaving them all at risk of identity fraud.

Scroll down for more...

 

Alistair Darling in Parliament today admitting the huge blunder affecting 25 million UK residents

 

Read more...

• Pressure piling up on the Chancellor
  
• Police search Revenue and Customs offices for 'lost' benefit data discs
  
• Q&A: How could fraudsters use personal information on the missing disks?

Britain's most senior taxman, Paul Gray, quit his £170,000-a-year job as head of HM Customs and Revenue in the wake of the Treasury blunder.

Mr Darling, forced to defend his handling of the Northern Rock collapse yesterday, addressed MPs again as he apologised for the “extremely serious failure” and urged the public to check their accounts.

Mr Darling said he recognised that millions of families will be “concerned about what has happened”, but added: “There is no evidence that this data has reached the wrong hands, there is no evidence of fraud or criminal activity. No one will suffer any loss if they are a victim of fraud”.

The two discs, which are encrypted, were sent by couriers TNT from offices in Washington, Tyne & Wear, but it did not arrive at the National Audit Office in London.

The package was not recorded or registered.

 

Breach: Former HM Customs and Revenue Chairman Paul Gray with Gordon Brown

 

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said that the error had been one of the biggest ever failures of competence by a Government.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman said that the Treasury had now replaced the Home Office as the Government department that was most “unfit for purpose”.

He asked why ministers were not resigning as well as the head of the HMRC. The news was part of a triple blow to Mr Darling as Northern Rock's shares went into freefall and new figures showed disappointing public finances.

Mr Darling revealed that there was an “increased risk” caused by the loss and warned the public to monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity.

 

Alistair Darling pictured at the opening of the Child Benefits Agency HQ

 

The banks have advised that people do not need to change their PIN numbers or bank numbers but should be wary of anyone asking for their details.

Mr Darling said that there was no need for those claiming child benefit to worry about their payments because the discs were copies of the original data.

The police were called in when the discs were found to be missing. Metropolitan Police officers have searched a child benefit office in Washington, sources said.

A spokesman for the force said: “We have got officers in the area assisting with inquiries in connection with the missing child benefit data.”

It is believed that ministers have known about the errors for more than a week and are expected to face questions as to why they failed to reveal details until today.

Mr Darling added that the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas had told him that he should not go public with the revelation until he was sure that “appropriate remedial action” was taken to protect confidential data details.

The Prime Minister said he had “full confidence” in Mr Darling despite the benefits records blunder, Gordon Brown's spokeswoman said.

HM Customs and Revenue, an arm of the Treasury, came under fire this month when it emerged that it had lost the records of 15,000 taxpayers linked to Standard Life's pension fund. It is understood that the data on the two child benefit discs has been lost rather than stolen.

Mr Gray, 59, a career civil servant, was appointed by Gordon Brown as executive chairman of the HMRC this year.

But he has faced heavy criticism over the tax credits fiasco where millions of poorer families have been forced to repay big sums thanks to administrative errors.

Tory sources today suspected that Mr Gray was being made a scapegoat over the tax credits issue as well as the child benefit data loss.

In a statement today he said: “I am announcing today that I will be standing down as a result of a substantial operational failure in the department. This is not the way I would have planned to organise my departure."

 

Nice photoshop there

 

Nice photoshop there

 

Yeah, they ain't his hands.:thinking:

It looks like they took a stock photo of that building, got Darling to lean against a similar barrier on a green screen and merged them together.

 

But back on topic, idiotic people losing data, I wonder if I could sue them under the data protection act :thinking:

If they're going to shop him, do a better job like at b3ta. :P

lol