25m confidential records lost

2007-11-20 21:10

London -Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said on Tuesday that the confidential records of 25 million people who receive child benefit payments have gone missing after two data discs were lost in the post.

The head of the department responsible resigned over the "deeply regrettable" incident, said Darling, already on the ropes over a crisis involving the bail-out of battered mortgage lender Northern Rock.

In a statement to parliament, Darling said the two discs contained details of 7.25 million families, including names, addresses, dates of birth and bank account details.

He apologised but sought to reassure worried members of the public that there was no evidence the data had fallen into the wrong hands.

- SAPA