According to The Times newspaper senior Whitehall heads
will be held personally responsible for their departments'data breaches.
Public sector officials, including chief executives of NHS
trusts, will be forced to take
data protection "much more seriously" under proposals by
Cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell, The Times reports.
In coming weeks, O'Donnell will present the findings of a report
on
data security. The report was commissioned by prime minister
Gordon Brown in the wake of the HMRC data breach, which
leaked 25 million child benefit records.
The Times quotes information commissioner Richard Thomas, who it
says has seen a draft of the report. Thomas says the new measures
focus on "issues of accountability and governance".
"It has to be the likes of chief executives (of NHS trusts) and
permanent secretaries who are held accountable when things go
wrong," Thomas said.
"They can't simply make assumptions that everything is in the
hands of the 'techies'", he said.