South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has written to the head of the National Audit Office to ask for an investigation into the theft of personal identities from government databases.

The recent report of the theft of personal identities from 13,000 civil servants working for the Department for Work and Pensions now appears to have been only one of a much larger number of significant frauds involving the use by organised criminal gangs of personal data which they had stolen from government databases.

Mr Bacon, a member of the influential Commons public accounts committee, has asked Sir John Bourn, Comptroller and Auditor General and head of the National Audit Office, to investigate the security of personal data held by government departments as a matter of urgency.

Mr Bacon's letter is as follows:

Sir John Bourn KCB
Comptroller and Auditor General
National Audit Office
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
LONDON  SW1W 9SP

12 May 2006

Dear Sir John

THEFT OF PERSONAL IDENTITIES FROM DWP AND HMRC

I am writing to you about the theft of personal identities from databases held by the Department for Work and Pensions and from HM Revenue and Customs.

As you will know, there has been an ongoing investigation into the theft of the details of some 13,000 civil servants employed by the Department for Work and Pensions and the use of this information by organised criminal gangs to commit fraud.

However, I understand that this incident may only be one of a series of episodes of significant organised fraud involving the theft of personal identities from government databases which are now under investigation.

Given that you have placed a qualified opinion on the accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions for many years now, it is of great concern that the department remains open to organised fraud on such a substantial scale and that its ability to account for how it spends public money is getting worse rather than better.

Moreover, given that for the last 3 years you have placed a qualified opinion on the accounts of HM Revenue and Customs precisely because of its difficulties in accounting for public money spent on tax credits, it is very worrying that the scale of personal identity theft involving the tax credits scheme is still not quantified.

My concern is that the security of individuals’ personal details has been far more severely compromised than may have been realised by the public.  I would be most grateful if you would investigate urgently the failure of these government departments to protect personal identities from fraudsters.

RICHARD BACON MP
Member of Parliament for South Norfolk
 
c.c. Edward Leigh MP, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee

14 May 2006

See also:
BBC NEWS: 'Revenue admits theft of staff IDs'
PARLIAMENT: MP wants Treasury to end secret deals