To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the 600,000 people whose personal data were on the laptop recently stolen from a Royal Navy recruiting officer were (a) under 18 and (b) under 18 when they contacted the recruitment service. (181587)

[holding answer 24 January 2008]: Of the 600,000 people whose personal data were on the laptop stolen from a Royal Navy recruiting officer, 47,537 candidate records, that have a stored date of birth, were aged under 18 on 16 Jan 2008. 167,869 candidate records, that have a stored date of birth and a stored initial contact date, were aged under 18 when the initial contact was made.

Applicants who are under 18 years of age, or are in care at the time of application, are to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian or person with parental responsibilities before the application can be considered. This consent will be required again on entry if the applicant is still under 18, or in care.