The details of three million candidates for the driving theory test have gone missing, Ruth Kelly has told MPs.
The details of three million candidates for the driving theory test have gone missing, Ruth Kelly has told MPs.
Names, addresses and phone numbers - but not financial data - were among details on a computer hard drive which went missing in the US in May.
Names, addresses and phone numbers - but not financial data - were among details on a computer hard drive which went missing in the US in May.
It belonged to a contractor to the Driving Standards Agency, the transport secretary told MPs.
It belonged to a contractor to the Driving Standards Agency, the transport secretary told MPs.
It is the latest in a series of data losses since discs with 25m people's details on were lost by HM Revenue.
It is the latest in a series of data losses since discs with 25m people's details on were lost by HM Revenue.
Earlier the chancellor told MPs there was no evidence of fraud after the loss of the child benefit data by Revenue and Customs in October.
Ms Kelly said the details of learner drivers had been formatted specifically for the contractor, Pearson's, and was not readily accessible or usable by third parties.
Alistair Darling has been given an interim report into that loss, but said conclusions would be outlined in a full report out next year.
Risks 'not substantial'
The head of HMRC, and its data security chief, are also to be probed by MPs.
She said the details were not sent in the post - but the hard drive had not been found where it had been expected to be, in the "security facility" in Iowa.
COMMONS TIMINGS 1530: Brown on EU summit1630: Darling on lost discs1730: Kelly on DFT data1730: MPs grill HMRC bosses
She said the information commission had judged the risks presented by the loss were not "substantial" as the details did not include bank account details, National Insurance numbers, driving licence numbers or dates of birth.
The two Child Benefit discs that went missing in October contained names, dates of birth, bank and address details.
But she apologised for anyone for any "uncertainty or concern" caused to anyone whose details might have been included - who took a driving theory test between September 2004 and April 2007.
They were lost when a junior official at HM Revenue and Customs in Tyne and Wear sent them by courier unregistered and unencrypted, to the National Audit Office in London - but they did not arrive.
Responsibility for systemic failure does not lie with junior staff - it lies at the very top Philip HammondConservatives
It is believed police think the discs may have accidentally been thrown out as rubbish.
However her Tory shadow Theresa Villiers said the government was failing in its duty to obey its own laws on data security and said it was further evidence of a "systemic failure" by the government in handling people's private data.
Officers have visited several tips around London to check what waste was delivered there.
The statement followed straight on the Commons from Chancellor Alistair Darling's presentation of an interim report by Kieran Poynter, UK chairman at PriceWaterhouseCoopers into the loss of the child benefit data by Revenue and Customs in October.
A large scale hunt for the discs has failed to find them.
Mr Darling said Mr Poynter's review had prioritised the immediate security measures that were needed at HMRC.
The government has apologised and said there was no evidence the discs had fallen into the wrong hands.
Bulk data ban
But millions of families have been told to be on alert for fraudsters using their details, stored on the discs.
And he said there was still no evidence of any fraud from the loss of the two discs in October - containing names, dates of birth, bank and address details.
Data security grilling
Among measures were banning the transfer of "bulk data" without certain security measures, and disabling lap tops to stop information being downloaded without the permission of a senior manager.
Mr Darling said some other missing discs would also be looked at as part the inquiry by Mr Poynter, UK chairman at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
But Mr Darling said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to draw final conclusions while more inquiries were being carried out. The full report is due "in the first half" of 2008, he said.
A full version of the report is expected by spring 2008.
Philip Hammond, for the Conservatives, said it had been "the most catastrophic data security breach in British history" and criticised Mr Darling's early explanation that a junior official who had not followed the rules was responsible.
He also gave details of an interim report from Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell into data security across the whole of Government.
"Responsibility for systemic failure does not lie with junior staff - it lies at the very top," he said.
While Ms Kelly gives details of the new data loss to the Commons, MPs on the public accounts committee are due to grill David Hartnett, acting chairman of HMRC, and Nick Lodge, HMRC's director of data security about the loss of the child benefit disc.
"In the face of the overwhelming scale of systemic failure behind this disaster, this statement can only be described as a wholly inadequate response from a wholly inadequate chancellor."
Meanwhile, a capability review of HM Revenue and Customs found that "the senior leadership has not been successful in injecting pace, confidence and dynamism throughout the department".
The top team "has more to do to demonstrate that it can take the tough decisions required to set priorities and to bring about organisational clarity".
It also needed "a robust plan" to "resolve staff uncertainty" and be clear about what HMRC will look like in the future.
A capability review of the Treasury found the department was "not driving change with sufficient passion and pace".
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