Government is facing criticism over data loss

The government is facing criticism over the way it handles data after sensitive records sent by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs were lost in the post. The discs contain details including bank account, and national insurance numbers.

The details of some twenty-five million individuals, carried on two CDRoms, have not turned up, despite being posted in October. The discs are said to be password protected, but the department has come in for heavy criticism over the way it handles individuals' data.

Paul Gray, the chairman at HMRC, has already resigned, and many MPs in opposition are questioning the government's attitude to data and the safeguards afforded to it.

Darling has blamed staff for the loss of the data, and added that so far " The police have no reason to believe the data has found its way into the wrong hands".

In 2006 a stolen briefcase led to the disappearance of some 26.5m US veterans' details, while in the private sector retailer TJ Maxx had to admit that information from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards had been stolen by hackers.

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