Millions of L-driver details lost

[notanotherone]

The Government has lost the records of more than three million learner drivers from a "secure facility" in Iowa.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly told the Commons that the latest security breach did not include personal data such as credit card or bank details.

But it is a huge embarrassment to the Government, coming on the same day Chancellor Alistair Darling said ministers still did not know the whereabouts of two missing computer discs containing sensitive information on 25 million people.

Mr Darling gave a non-committal end of term update to MPs on the Poynter Review into the missing child benefit data-base, saying it would be next year before full conclusions would be known.

Ms Kelly was then forced to concede to MPs: "In May this year, Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd, a private contractor to the Driving Standards Agency, informed the agency that a hard disk drive had gone missing from its secure facility in Iowa City, Iowa. The hard disk drive contained the records of just over three million candidates for the driving theory test."

The records contained the L-driver's name, postal address, phone number, the test fee paid, their test centre, a code indicating how the test was paid for and an e-mail address.

The Transport Secretary also said the disk was "formatted specifically to fit Pearson configuration" and was not easily read by third parties.

Because banking details were not included in the lost data, individuals are not being informed, she said.

Her admission came after Mr Darling told MPs that there was little progress in the probe into the loss of the two child benefit discs, despite widespread police searches and the offer of a £20,000 reward for their return.

The Chancellor said: "The police have re-iterated that they have no intelligence that the data has fallen into the wrong hands. They will keep that under review."