Council department loses personal data on 100 staff

PERSONAL details of 100 council workers have gone missing after a binder containing the information was lost.

The dossier included the CVs of extended learning tutors working for the Borough Council's Children's Services Department.

The loss comes just weeks after a warning that the Borough Council was warned it could face fines of up to £500,000 for the improper disposal of sensitive data.

Sarah Corbett, the council’s data protection officer, ordered children’s services staff to make sure they threw away all paper waste in confidential bins after personal data—including service user details and health records—in regular waste baskets and recycling sacks.

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But hard copies of the tutors’ details were being kept at Norfolk House—despite the council also having secure electronic copies.

A council insider said: “The extended learning department has no sign-in or sign-out procedure for removing sensitive information from Norfolk House.

“The head has not maintained any oversight on data protection, allowing this situation to continue.

“Handling of this information is contrary to RMBC’s Policies and Procedures and its legal responsibilities in data protection.”

Most of the tutors are thought to have been employed through other providers. Among the names is that of one serving councillor, the Advertiser understands.

The insider said that with the exception of a handful of council-employed tutors, no-one had been informed that their personal details had been lost.

Joyce Thacker, strategic director of children and young people’s services, said: “We take issues around information security very seriously and launched a full internal investigation to find out if this file has been misplaced, lost or stolen.

“We are very clear about our responsibilities to protect information and we carry out regular audits of our information security procedures and remind CYPS staff about the importance of keeping information safe.

“This is why we have taken this issue so seriously and if we believe in this case that the file has been stolen we will inform the police immediately.”

Security was reviewed at Norfolk House after ten laptops were stolen in February 2009.

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