Paul Gray, the chairman ofHM Revenue & Customs, has resigned
following the loss of two discs in transit carrying the details of
25 million child benefit recipients.
The loss of the discs is potentially the biggest identity theft
scare to have taken place in the UK.
News of HMRC chairman Paul Gray's resignation broke earlier
today.
Chancellor Alistair Darling is to make a statement to the
Commons on the loss at 3.30pm today.
It is believed the loss was discovered over a week ago and the
police are already investigating the case.
Names, addresses, dates of birth and bank account details are
believed to be on the missing discs.
Some personal details of children are thought to have been
included on the discs.
Opposition politicians have called for ministerial heads to roll
over the affair, which comes hot on criticism over the way the
government's Treasury has handled the Northern Rock situation.
It is not known whether the information being transported was
encrypted for its protection, but it is being reported that their
transportation breached rules governing data protection.
Last night, the BBC Watchdog programme had reported a wide range
of incidents of personal data going astray at HMRC.