'Cost-cutting' a factor in loss of data

The Government has today been accused of putting cost-cutting ahead of security as the fall out from the HM Revenue and Customs scandal continues to escalate - reports the Daily Telegraph.

Internal HMRC emails show that officials were concerned about incurring additional costs after receiving a request by the National Audit Office for details of its child benefit database.

In an email dated 13 March, with all named blanked out, an NAO official said: "I do not need address, bank or parent details in download - are these removable to make the file smaller?"

However, a subsequent internal HMRC email stated: "I must stress we must make use of data we hold and not over burden the business by asking them to run additional data scans/filters that may incur a cost to the department."

According to the Daily Telegraph, the procedure to delete the details - which would have removed much of the threat of identity fraud - would have cost just £5,000.

When the NAO asked for further copies of the files for an audit in October, an official wrote: "Last time we had 100 zipped files on 2 CDs. Please could you ensure that the CDs are delivered to the NAO as safely as possible due to their content."

The CDs were then sent by a 23-year-old junior official from HMRC through courier TNT, neither recorded nor registered.

Following the release of the emails, Liberal Democrat acting leader Vince Cable accused the Government of putting "minor cost-cutting" ahead of security.

"IT experts point out it is possible to strip out data for a modest sum but the Government's short-sightedness has led to millions of personal details getting lost in the post. This is simply unacceptable," he said.

The news that this administrative disaster rested on a desperation by the Customs & Revenue service to save a matter of £5,000 puts the decision of MPs to lavish an extra £7bn of public funds on the audit-failing European Union in stark context.

MPs simply cannot justify giving such vast sums to an organisation - the "majority" of whose annual spending remains unverifiable by auditors - while witnessing these catastophic results of drastic cost-cutting at home.

Each MP who now exhibits such misplaced priorities and votes to approve the European Communities (Finance) Bill at its final reading in Parliament in a few weeks time will have to shoulder the blame for the consequences of public money running out, like those we've seen this week.