HMRC fires staff for reading personal data
An MP has revealed that over 600 staff at HM Revenue and Customs have been disciplined for reading tax payers’ personal histories. Treasury Financial Secretary Jane Kennedy said that 238 people were disciplined in 2005, 180 in 2006 and 192 in 2007.
While some employees received a reprimand, the MP revealed that a large number had been fired.
Kennedy said that HMRC has a “strict policy forbidding staff to access customer records unless they have a legitimate business need.
“Breaches of this policy are taken seriously and will result in the commencement of disciplinary proceedings,” she said. “Each case is treated on its merits but, in many cases, the disciplinary penalty for breach is dismissal.”
The cases highlight continuing concerns about the department’s competence in handling data on UK citizens.
“The data loss that occurred last year at the treasury was the start of a string of stories concerning the mishandling of Government data. What for years was a trusted area is now under the spotlight, where revelations such as this will undoubtedly raise eyebrows,” comments Derrick Cameron, from IT firm Eximium.
“Businesses must deploy an information security solution, which hides sensitive data unless the request is genuine, if they are ever to completely overcome human curiosity and error,” adds Cameron.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Business Advice, Data Security, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
