Letwin binned confidential documents in park bin, and other data protection bungles

I’ve got a bit of a thing, bordering on an obsession, about data protection. From an NHS trust losing 1.6 million patient records, to another NHS trust losing an unencrypted USB stick with patient data on, to a council faxing details of a child protection case to a member of the public.

All of these are easily avoidable. Having encryption on memory sticks and laptops is basic stuff for any competent IT department, and why on earth is anyone still using a fax anyway?

I recently got an email from a school, which was sent to all of the parents on the list, rather than blind copying them all. That’s not great, but in the scheme of things pretty minor.

So, I found it amusing and extraordinary that a senior politician would be so stupid as to dispose of confidential documents in a park bin. Paper documents. In a public bin. Not even shredded. Don’t they have advisors to warn them about this sort of thing? Expect more developments when the ICO finish investigating.