30,000 disabled claimants' sensitive information stolen - Laws

7.35.54am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 21st May 2007

30,000 disabled people had sensitive personal information including bank account details stolen last September, Liberal Democrat research has revealed.

Recipients of Independent Living Funds and civil servants working on the scheme had personal information including their names, addresses, National Insurance numbers and bank account details stolen when a van was broken into last year.

Commenting Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, David Laws MP said:

"This is deeply worrying for those whose personal details have been stolen.

"This Government has an obsession with gathering ever more information on its citizens despite its abysmal track record of ensuring that the details it holds are kept secure.

"This is a government which has presided over the identity theft of 13,000 Tax Credit Office employees, the leaking of 30,000 junior doctors' police records and sexual preferences, and now we discover that 30,000 people claiming Independent Living Funds have had personal details stolen.

"With the increased scope for fraud from ID theft, the Government should stop gathering in more and more data until it can safeguard the information it already has."