Stephen Williams MP Condemns Shambolic Treasury
10.48.00am GMT Wed 21st Nov 2007
Leading Liberal Democrats from across Bristol have condemned the massive
failure of security that led to personal details being lost for every
family in the UK with a child under 16.
The personal details were on two CDs that were sent in unsecured
internal mail - in violation of strict security rules. The details
included people's names, address, birth date, National Insurance number,
partner's details, the names age and sex of children, and for some
people, bank and savings account details. Nobody knows where the CDs
are now.
Nearly half of all people in the UK are theoretically at risk, which
amounts to hundreds of thousands of people in the Bristol area alone.
Although the risk is low and Chancellor Alistair Darling has said there
is no evidence that the data had gone to criminals, he also advised
people who were worried to monitor their accounts "for any unusual
activity".
Liberal Democrats say the security breach highlights two key issues: the
extreme danger of collecting sensitive personal data in massive
centralised databases, and the dysfunctional management of The Treasury.
Stephen Williams, Lib Dem MP for Bristol West commented: "The Treasury
has joined the Home Office as a government department that is unfit for
purpose. The Chancellor has inherited from his predecessor Gordon
Brown, systems of management that are dysfunctional."
Cllr Mark Wright, Lib Dem spokesman for Bristol South, said: "This
security breach shows in the clearest possible way exactly why it is so
dangerous to hoard massive amounts of personal data in centralised
computers. There is a reason why putting all your eggs in one basket is
a bad idea, no matter how convenient it may seem at the time. The
Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed ID-cards precisely because
mistakes like this can and will happen. The risks to society of
ID-cards massively outweigh the benefits."
Cllr Steve Comer, leader of the Lib Dems on Bristol City Council and a
member of the National Executive Committee of the PCS Union (which
represents HMRC staff), added: "This strikes at the heart of confidence
in Government databases, both those that exist now; and those that are
being developed for the future, like the ID-card database and also the
little-known 'ContactPoint' child database."
Paul Harrod, Lib Dem spokesman for Bristol North West concluded: "The
Government, whose first duty is to protect its citizens, has in this
case done exactly the opposite and exposed its citizens to risk. Half
the country will be anxious about the implications of this, and they are
right to conclude that the Government has truly let them down."
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