13 London councils lose data in past year

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 15 Apr 2008 at 11:58

At least 13 London councils have lost data relating to members of the public in the past year alone, according to a survey undertaken by the BBC.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, Radio 5 Live was able to release records on the latest in a strong of government data losses.

23 councils responded to requests for information, 13 of which admitted that they mislaid documents in the last 12 months.

Social workers from the borough of Kensington and Chelsea admitted to losing information on children in their care on three different occasions, according to a spokesperson, when a laptop, a paper notebook and a file were stolen on three separate occasions.

Two of these cases occurred while staff where in a pub after work, claim reports.

"Staff are required to notify the loss of any confidential information to their manager immediately, as happened in all these cases," says a council spokesperson.

"These three staff members were all the victims of theft. All three incidents were investigated promptly and management action taken where required."

In another case, photocopies of the birth certificates of 375 students who had applied for grants were lost by Havering Council, along with financial records of their parents.

These revelations are the latest in a string of government data losses to come to light in recent months.

In February a confidential Home Office disc was found in a notebook purchased on eBay, although the information held within was encrypted.

Late last year two CDs were lost in transit between government offices, containing records on 25 million child benefit claimants. This data was not encrypted, and the discs have not been recovered.