PM 'profoundly regrets' loss of data

Wednesday, 21, Nov 2007 12:00

Clashing with MPs at the weekly parliamentary debate session, Gordon Brown today said he "profoundly regrets" the loss of millions of personal details belonging to child benefit recipients.

The revelation that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had lost two computer discs containing bank account details and other sensitive records of 25 million people was announced yesterday by chancellor Alistair Darling.

Today in the Commons, the prime minister faced a torrent of accusations from opposition politicians who alleged that he was culpable for the security failings within HMRC.

Mr Brown said: "I profoundly regret and apologise for inconveniencies and worries that have been caused to millions of families who receive child benefits."

But David Cameron refused to accept this statement, challenging Mr Brown to "be the big man" and admit responsibility for engineering systemic failings when he merged two departments in 2005 to create HMRC when he was chancellor.

The latest fiasco is one of a series of blunders to undermine the government's competence in recent weeks.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith admitted last week that 5,000 illegal immigrants had been cleared to work within the security industry and work and pensions secretary Peter Hain revealed that inaccurate immigration figures had been released into the public domain, underestimating the number of foreign migrants working in the UK by 300,000.

The instability surrounding Northern Rock has also proved a hard storm to weather, as the Treasury took the decision to use £24 billion of taxpayers' money to support the beleaguered mortgage lender.

The mistake at HMRC has been described as the biggest governmental security breach since records began.

The government has been quick to assure those affected that their money will be insured under the banking code should the missing discs be used for fraudulent purposes.

The have urged customers to be vigilant when monitoring their accounts, but have insisted they do not need to withdraw deposits as safeguards are in place.