Computer stolen from cabinet minister's office

By Peter Graff

LONDON (Reuters) - A computer containing "restricted" information was stolen from the office of a cabinet minister in a break-in, the government said on Tuesday, in the second serious security breach in a week.

Police said they were investigating a weekend burglary at the constituency office of Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears in Manchester.

Civil servants acknowledged breaking information security guidelines yet again, a week after one of the country's top intelligence officials embarrassed the government by leaving a file with top secret documents about al Qaeda and Iraq on a commuter train.

"There was a break-in at the constituency office of Hazel Blears on the afternoon of Saturday, June 14. Hazel was not there at the time," a government statement said.

"The thief broke in through a window, triggering the building's security alarm. A PC was stolen. Nothing else was taken. We understand the building's security staff arrived within minutes."

"There was some restricted information on the PC, but as we have made clear, there is no secret or top secret information," it said.

BREACHED INFORMATION RULES

The top civil servant in the Communities department, Peter Housden, acknowledged that rules for protecting information had been broken in sending files to Blears.