Personal information of Scottish NHS workers lost in transit

Personal information of Scottish NHS workers lost in transit

Personal information relating to hundreds of Scottish NHS workers has been lost in transit by Government officials.

Documents containing names and National Insurance numbers were recently sent out by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) but didn't reach their destination, leaving the staff open to identity theft and fraud.

According to the official account, the loss only came to light yesterday and has prompted a "frantic" search for the documents - which as yet has revealed nothing. It is the first known data loss scandal in Scotland and follows the HM Revenue and Customs fiasco in which details of 25 million people, contained on two CDs, were lost in the post.

The details of the new loss were revealed in a statement from the Scottish Government following inquiries by Scotland on Sunday.

Scots data files lost in the post (Scotland on Sunday, 25 November 2007)