By Nick Heath, 14 January 2008 17:18
NEWS
Scotland Yard will demand HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) foot the record bill for the force's hunt for the missing data discs containing 25 million child benefit records.
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The Metropolitan Police force has said it will seek full costs from the HMRC for what is being reported as the most expensive lost property inquiry in the UK.
The Met's search for the two missing CDs is being "wound down", with reports that officers are no longer searching premises and think the discs will probably never be found.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "We will be seeking full recovery of the cost of the investigation. The investigation is being wound down but it is not concluded."
The Met would not confirm the exact cost of the investigation but an article in The Telegraph says the investigation has cost tens of thousands of pounds, quoting a source at the Yard as saying it had demanded more resources "than you would see used in a major murder investigation".
The HMRC has previously guaranteed to cover the "incremental" costs of the police investigation such as overtime, accommodation and travel expenses.
A spokeswoman for HMRC said the department has agreed to pay the costs that "we have triggered as a result of the police investigation into the disappearance of the child benefit data".
At the investigation's peak, 47 detectives from the Met's Specialist and Economic Crime Command were charged with searching for the two CDs that went missing in October last year after a junior official at the HMRC sent them unrecorded in the post to the National Audit Office (NAO).
Police are reported to have searched NAO offices, two HMRC premises and other government buildings, the Royal Mail depot in Belfast, four TNT depots and a rubbish tip in Kent, with the main search concluding on 5 December 2007.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Authority said the matter could be raised at the authority's next meeting.
He said: "If there are particularly large costs we might ask whether they are proportionate and whether everything was done to ensure as effective value for money as possible."
The password-protected CDs contain the names, addresses, dates of birth and national insurance numbers of the entire HMRC child benefit database. They also include the bank account details of more than seven million parents, guardians and carers.
No banks have reported any unusual activity in the affected accounts to date.
A separate inquiry into how the data went missing is being conducted by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Comments
There are 11 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I'd be very surprised if the cost to the MPS alone is under £500,000 (the all-up cost of a trained detective is the other side of £10,000 a month).
2. GALLEY SLAVE#41
Out of one pocket into another, the end result is that we the poor bloody taxpayer pays in the end as always.
3. anonymous
HMRC doesn't have any money, either way this will end up as a cost to the taxpayer.
4. Jeremy Wickins
Okay - maybe I'm just naive, but how can the police charge for doing an investigation? Is this part of a wider plan - "Yes, madam, you claim you have been raped. We'll be happy to investigate at the standard fee rate of [insert figure]". Perhaps they could have a sliding scale - cursory investigation with almost guaranteed failure for one price, and a premium "efficient" investigation with the job done properly for considerably more. Perhaps I have just glimpsed the future ...!
5. anonymous
I'm sure many officers would love to work for the same MPS that the Anonymous Strategic Planner from London is thinking of. Detectives paid £10k per month? That would be £120k per year.....pity that's well above the published rates here:
http://www.metpolicecareers.co.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=71
6. Karen Challinor
so not only do we live in fear of random direct debits being applied to our bank accounts (thank you very much for the demonstration Jeremy Clarkson) we now have to pay for the failure to find the discs as well
I would ask who wants to emigrate with me but I think a better idea would be to compulsarily relocate our politicians somewhere
say the middle of the north sea
7. Jay
money, money, money, greed, greed, greed thats all people care about 'nowerdays well i say pathetic! it really don't matter who gives who what money, sometmes being part of civilisation is embarasing!
8. Chris Goodman
I certainly agree that the police budget should not have to fund this. It must be funded, at least in part, by those individuals responsible for the loss with the balance being deducted from the salary budget of HMRC. Spread the misery!!!
9. Karen Challinor
the only reason to get the police involved at all would be if it were suspected that a crime had been committed
the police are not HMRC's lackeys at their beck and call to come and look for lost filing on demand so it's only right HMRC should pay for the time wasted
as I remember, HMRC have far greater powers of search and seizure than the police, for one thing HMRC do not need a warrant to enter premises
10. anonymous
Has any one checked that the disks were actually written. Seems amazing that no trace can be found either at the source department, the transit depots or at the final destination.
Perhaps they, if they exist, are sitting beside someones cd player. mistakenly thought to contain music !
11. Joe Whitehead
@Jeremy Wickins
Well considering that it's their own fault, they're liable. Now on the other hand, if someone broke in and stole the disks, that's another issue entirely. The same if an employee decided to steal information - the police consider it part of their normal duty. It's NOT their normal duty to fix someone's screwup!