There is no doubt that many of us think that the Government doesn't have a clue as to where the missing Customs data discs are.
As a result, there is now a £20,000 reward to anyone who hands in the two lost CDs containing the personal details of 25 million people. This due in part to the police admitting that they had made no progress in locating them.
The inquiry originally had a core team of 47 detectives from the Met's specialist and economic crime command, including computer experts. The core team has now been reduced to 32 detectives but despite these numbers, they have had no luck.
After two weeks of fruitless searches by officers, the Metropolitan Police has appealed to Government employees to check their desks and drawers in case they turn up!
Nice to see the spirit of Sherlock Holmes is alive and well eh?
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which lost the discs after despatching them through the unregistered internal post to the National Audit Office (NAO) in London, announced that it would put up a £20,000 reward to anyone who handed them in.
The private postal firm that handles internal government mail, TNT, is also asking all employees at two key depots to look for the discs. A dedicated phone line has been set up for staff to report information.
The CDs, reported lost on November 15, contain the child benefit data of 25 million parents whose names, addresses, National Insurance numbers and in many cases bank details, were also lost.
The Met Police said:
"The enquiry has been particularly challenging due to how common CDs are within offices, the number and size of the offices requiring searches and the number of organisations where the package may have travelled through."
"The main searches have concluded and we are now extending to areas that require searches or enquiries to be made in order to rule them out. "However, indications suggest that these locations are less likely to have been a transit route for the parcel than the areas already searched."
Since police took over the hunt on November 18, they have searched the following:
- 1 Department for Work and Pensions site.
- 1 waste disposal site at Rainham
...but guess what...nothing!Well, it's pretty clear that no one in any position of authority has a clue about what is going on.
To be honest, perhaps they would be better off looking here?!
Data loss fraud; who should pay up?