Data on thousands of criminals lost

10:43pm Thursday 21st August 2008

Personal details relating to thousands of criminals have been lost in the latest in a line of Government data blunders.

The Home Office said a computer memory stick containing information on around 10,000 prolific offenders had been lost by a contractor.

PA Consulting warned the department on Monday that the stick - which also contains data on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales - might be lost.

And the Home Office admitted it was missing.

A spokeswoman said: "We have been made aware of a security breach at the offices of an external contractor involving the loss of personal information about offenders in England and Wales. A full investigation is being conducted. Police and the Information Commissioner have been informed."

The spokeswoman also said the stick included information from the Police National Computer of around 30,000 people with six or more convictions in the last year.

Opposition parties described the loss as a "massive failure of duty" and accused the Government of being unable to keep any information safe.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said taxpayers would be "absolutely outraged" if the loss led to big compensation payouts to the criminals involved.

And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "Charlie Chaplin could do a better job running the Home Office than this Labour Government."

Nobody from PA Consulting was available for comment.