Inquiry ordered after data on 5,000 British prison guards lost

Published Saturday September 6th, 2008

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON - Britain's Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he's ordered an inquiry after a computer hard drive with personal details of 5,000 prison officers was lost.

Straw said the hard drive has been missing since July 2007. But officials only informed the Justice Ministry on Saturday.

The names, dates of birth and social security numbers of the prisoner officers are among details lost.

The incident is the latest in a string of data problems for Britain's government. Last year, tax officials lost computer disks containing information - including banking records - on nearly one-half of the U.K. population.

Data on three million driving test candidates and details of 600,000 applicants to the armed forces have also been lost in recent months.

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