Police hunt for discs in ID blunder

Police are searching for two CDs at the centre of a national identity fraud crisis after the personal details of 25 million people were lost in the post.The discs contain names, addresses, dates of birth, child benefit numbers, national insurance numbers and bank or building society account details of every family that gets child benefit.The "catastrophic" blunder by HM Revenue and Customs means that nearly half the UK's population - including leading politicians and businessmen - are at risk of identity fraud.Chancellor Alistair Darling said he had ordered an inquiry into security procedures at Revenue and Customs."This is a very, very bad situation indeed," he said."There are clear procedures in place which should have stopped anyone, let alone a junior official, from downloading this information on to two discs and putting them in the post unregistered."Mr Darling revealed the staggering scale of the debacle in an emergency statement to MPs, as Paul Gray, the head of HMRC, resigned with immediate effect.Mr Darling explained how a junior official sent the entire child benefit database from the HMRC HQ in Newcastle to the National Audit Office in London on October 18.In flagrant breach of the agency's procedure, the package was not even posted recorded delivery through contracted courier TNT, and never arrived at its destination.However, senior management at HMRC were not informed of the problem until November 8, with Mr Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown finally brought into the loop two days later.The officials involved apparently waited to raise the alarm because they hoped the password-protected discs would "turn up".The Metropolitan Police is now leading the hunt for the package while Mr Darling has ordered a probe into security procedures at HMRC and the Independent Police Complaints Commission is also investigating.The Chancellor stressed there was no evidence that the information had fallen into criminal hands and said the public would be protected against any fraud by the Banking Code."I regard this as an extremely serious failure by HMRC in their responsibility to the public," he told MPs.The details of virtually every family in the country with children under the age of 16 has been lost. This is believed to include Prime Minister Gordon Brown and several other Cabinet members.Child benefit can be paid up to the age of 20 if the teenagers are studying for A-levels or on an approved training scheme.An HMRC spokeswoman said: "The junior HMRC official involved should have notified their senior officials but did not."Instead they assumed that the data had been delayed because of the postal strike and the NAO's office move and hoped it would turn up."Shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "The Chancellor has serious questions to answer, and faces the huge task of restoring the public's confidence in his department."He will have to demonstrate over the next few weeks that he is capable of doing this."Liberal Democrat acting leader and Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: "The Treasury and its agencies have replaced the Home Office as the department in Government which is most 'unfit for purpose'."It was the Prime Minister who created the dysfunctional organisation and systems which the Chancellor inherited."Where does the buck stop after this catalogue of disasters?"HM Revenue & Customs has set up a child benefit helpline on 0845 302 1444.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | November 21, 2007

Tags:. .delayed. .contracted. .commission. .cabinet. .stressed