Prison officers' details lost

Updated 23.48 Sat Sep 06 2008

Jack Straw has ordered an inquiry after a hard-drive with details of 5,000 prison officers went missing.

The loss of the data by private computing firm EDS was reported to the Prison Service in July, but it was not until Saturday that the Justice Secretary was informed.

The hard-drive reportedly contains names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and Prison Service employee numbers

The hard-drive reportedly contains names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and Prison Service employee numbers. It was last seen as long ago as July 2007.

Mr Straw said: "I am extremely concerned about this missing data. I was informed of its loss at lunchtime today and have ordered an urgent inquiry into the circumstances and the implications of the data loss and the level of risk involved.

"I have also asked for a report as to why I was not informed as soon as my department became aware of this issue. My officials are also in touch with EDS as part of these processes. We take these matters extremely seriously."

The incident is the latest in a string of data losses to embarrass the Government, including the disappearance last October of two computer discs containing personal details of 25 million child benefit claimants.

The Prison Officers' Association said the loss could end up costing the taxpayer millions of pounds.