Stolen MoD laptop contains 600,000 records

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) laptop containing personal data about 600,000 people has been stolen in the latest security breach to hit the government.

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Names, passports details, national insurance numbers, drivers' licence details, information on family, doctors' addresses and NHS numbers were included on the laptop.

The data related to people who have joined or expressed an interest in joining the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force. The MoD has also contacted 3,500 people whose bank details were on the machine and relevant banks have been warned.

Defence minister Des Browne will make a statement today about the latest incident in a catalogue of embarrassing security breaches by the UK government, which includes the NHS losing hundreds of thousands of patients' records, the DVLA losing three million learner drivers' details and the HMRC losing 25 million child benefit details.

Last week also saw other government blunders come to light, such as the loss of more than 4,000 patient details by primary care trusts in Stockport and Oldham.

The MoD admitted the breach on Friday following the theft from a Royal Navy recruitment officer's car in Edgbaston in Birmingham on 9 January.

The loss is being investigated by the office of the information commissioner Richard Thomas, who said in a statement: "This latest incident is a stark illustration of the potency of personal information in a database world. The volume of information in this case is significant and I am concerned about the sensitivity of some of the information contained on the laptop and the fact it pertains to military personnel.

"We will need to know why so much information on so many people was held on a laptop and whether any of it had been retained for too long. We will require satisfactory answers from the MoD and a firm assurance that steps have been taken to improve data protection practices before deciding on the appropriate action to take."

In a statement the MoD said: "The Ministry of Defence is treating the loss of this data with the utmost seriousness. The Secretary of State will make a statement to parliament at the earliest opportunity."

The MoD said it chose not to make the theft public immediately, following consultation with West Midlands Police about the impact it would have on the force's investigation.