To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the agreement between HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the National Audit Office (NAO) that governs the NAO’s access to personal data held by HMRC. (167677)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: The NAO derive their authority from four main Acts of Parliament; these are the Exchequer and Audit Department Acts 1866 and 1921, the National Audit (NAO) Act 1983 and the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. These pieces of legislation govern the NAO’s access to personal data held by HMRC. The legislation is already available in the public domain.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of child benefit recipients’ potential vulnerability to identity theft following the loss of their personal records by HM Revenue and Customs; what steps his Department has taken to guard against that risk. (167680)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the statement given in the House by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 20 November 2007, Official Report, columns 1101-04.

On 20 November, the Chancellor announced a review of HMRC’s data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the Chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the child benefit data missing from HM Revenue and Customs carried a protective (a) marking and (b) classification. (167686)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: As the location of the data is the subject of police investigation, it would be inappropriate to publicly divulge any details of the appearance of the CDs at this stage.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many HM Revenue and Customs officials had permission to copy onto a computer disc a full copy of HMRC's data on the payment of child benefits as at 18 October 2007. (167773)

[holding answers 26 November 2007]: There is an ongoing Metropolitan Police Service investigation and an independent review of HMRC’s security processes and procedures for data handling led by Kieran Poynter, the chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The full terms of reference for that review are available on the HM Treasury website at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_133_07.cfm

and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of families in Peterborough constituency whose personal data relating to their child benefit claims has been lost by HM Revenue and Customs; and if he will make a statement. (167917)

The missing information contains details of all child benefit recipients: including those in Peterborough constituency.

Information on families receiving child benefit at 31 August 2006 by local authority and parliamentary constituency are published as part of National Statistics and can be found in tables 2 and 3 of Child Benefit Statistics Geographical Analysis which are available on HMRC’s website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/geog-aug06.pdf

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs’ staff training in procedures on access to copying and dissemination of personal data. (168049)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: Kieran Poynter, chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers, will investigate HMRC’s security processes and procedures for data handling.

The full terms of reference for that review are available on the HM Treasury website at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_133_07.cfm

and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

The review will cover the steps that should be taken to ensure any further measures are adhered to consistently by all staff.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of those children and parents’ personal details contained on the two CD-Roms lost in transit between HM Revenue and Customs and the National Audit Office on 18 October were from (a) Leeds and (b) West Yorkshire. (168188)

The missing information contains details of all child benefit recipients: including those in Leeds and West Yorkshire.

Information on families receiving child benefit at 31 August 2006 by local authority and parliamentary constituency are published as part of National Statistics and can be found in Tables 2 and 3 of Child Benefit Statistics Geographical Analysis which are available on HMRC’s website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/geog-aug06.pdf

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department are working on tracing the lost compact discs containing child benefit data. (168209)

The Metropolitan police are conducting a full investigation in order to find the missing data. As part of their investigation, the police are leading the search of HMRC premises. HMRC staff are co-operating fully with the Metropolitan police in their ongoing searches and investigations.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider the merits of using an alternative courier to transport data from the HM Revenue and Customs to external destinations. (168224)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: The loss of the discs is subject of an ongoing police investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

On 13 November HMRC initiated immediate increased security.

On 20 November the Chancellor announced a review of HMRC’s data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the Chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons the loss of confidential child benefit information was not made public until 20 November; whether (a) banks and (b) the Information Commissioner requested the matter not to be made public until that time; and if he will make a statement. (168247)

I refer the hon. Member to the statement given in the House by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 20 November 2007, Official Report, columns 1101-04.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Statement of 20 November 2007, Official Report, columns 1110-18, on HM Revenue and Customs, how many individual records or cell fields were contained in the two missing discs. (168365)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement which the Chancellor of the Exchequer made to the House on 20 November 2007, Official Report, columns 1101-04.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in North West Cambridgeshire had their personal details on the two disks which have been lost by HM Revenue and Customs. (168381)

[holding answer 26 November 2007]: The missing information contains details of all child benefit recipients, including those in the North West Cambridge constituency.

Information on families receiving child benefit at 31 August 2006 by local authority and parliamentary constituency are published as part of National Statistics and can be found in tables 2 and 3 of Child Benefit Statistics Geographical Analysis which are available on HMRC’s website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/geogaug06.pdf