Data security risks

But over the next decade, with the introduction of a national identity card, Whitehall will get its hands on private information about every British passport holder.

After today's security scandal, opponents of ID cards are asking just how safe the scheme will be.

Everybody who has a passport - currently 80 per cent of the UK population - will have their details entered onto a national identity register. The ID cards scheme will cost £5.6bn over 10 years.

The Home Office say ID cards will be 'an easy and secure way of proving your identity.' They'll feature very personal information including biometric data - a fingerprint and iris scan and photo.

Your name, address, date of birth and gender will also feature, as well as immigration status.

And a PIN number used like a credit or debit card.

The Home Office tonight launched a desperate damage limitation exercise, insisting the ID cards system would be secure.

But although today's security breach is certainly the worst to date, when it comes to data protection, Whitehall has a poor track record. In fact all the main departments of state have been hit by similar failings.

At the Department of Health in April a security lapse on the NHS medical training website allowed public access to junior doctors' personal details.

Just across the road at the Foreign Office and only a month later, problems with the department's website meant personal data about visa applicants could be accessed by all and sundry.

And round the corner at the Department for Work and Pensions 1,500 staff have had their identities stolen in a tax fraud.

Senior Labour MPs say Gordon Brown's now got to convince people he can be trusted to keep their identities secret.

The national identity register isn't the only scheme causing concern at Westminster. The NHS wants to centralise people's medical records. And a database to protect at-risk children is planned by the schools department. Both projects could now come under the spotlight in parliament.

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