Prison staff details go missing in latest data loss

By John Joseph

LONDON (Reuters) - The personal details of thousands of prison staff working in England and Wales have been lost by a government contractor in the latest data security breach to embarrass the British government.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has ordered an inquiry into the data loss that involves up to 5,000 prison staff members after a hard drive was lost by technology company EDS in 2007.

The Ministry of Justice said it believed the missing data was not in the public domain and "remains on EDS premises". An EDS spokesman declined to comment on the likely whereabouts of the missing drive.

"I've ordered an urgent inquiry into the circumstances and the implications of the data loss and the level of risk involved," said Straw, who was unhappy he was only told of the incident on Saturday two months after the prison service learnt of the loss.

"I have also asked for a report as to why I was not informed as soon as my department became aware of this issue," he said.

"Officials are also in touch with EDS as part of these processes. We take these matters extremely seriously."

The data loss is likely to have affected administrative staff working for the prison service rather than prison or probation officers.

"A senior director in the prison service has updated the POA (Prison Officers' Assocation) and has committed to keeping them updated," the MOJ spokesman said.