The BBC has revealed today that
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officials were warned to ensure CDs containing benefit details of 25 million people were delivered "as safely as possible".
One email sent by an NAO official on 2 October, 16 days before the data went missing. It said: "Please could you ensure that the CDs are delivered to NAO as safely as possible due to their content."
But another e-mail from the same day, from an HMRC official, appears to suggest officials were concerned about the cost implications of stripping sensitive data from the files.
It says: "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".
Another message, dated 13 March from an NAO official, with all names blanked out, says: "I do not need the address, bank or parent details in this download - are these removable"
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "These emails conclusively show that senior officials at HMRC were involved in the decision to send sensitive information to the NAO, and that the NAO explicitly requested that the disks be sent 'as safely as possible due to their content'.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment