POLITICS: Chancellor reveals child benefit records security breach

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has admitted that the personal details of every single parent and child who receive Child Benefit have been lost. Names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance and bank account details were held on two discs which vanished after being sent by courier between HM Revenue and Customs in Newcastle and the National Audit Office in London. The police are investigating the disappearance. Mr Darling blamed junior officials for the security breach, which leaves 25 million people exposed to a serious risk of fraud. However, he said there was no evidence so far that any of the information had fallen into the wrong hands. Conservative politicians are describing the error as the latest in a series of blunders since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007.

ITN Source | November 20, 2007