Chancellor Under Fire As Attempts To Locate Discs Moves To Belfast

As Conservatives accuse the Chancellor, Alistair Darling of failing to tell "the whole truth" about the loss of confidential child benefit data - and demand an emergency statement from him - an increasingly desperate search for the lost computer discs containing data on 25 million claimants, moved to Belfast at the weekend.

In a sign the authorities are now clutching at straws, a search was carried out at the Royal Mail National Returns Centre at Donegall Quay for the two missing items.

HM Revenue and Customs, (HMRC), which lost the two computer discs, asked Royal Mail to check the centre, which handles undeliverable mail.

In a statement Royal Mail said that HMRC had asked them to carry out the check, but said HMRC had told them "there is no reason to suppose that the package has mistakenly been put into the Royal Mail system".

A junior HMRC employee at HM Revenue and Customs in Tyne and Wear has been blamed for the loss of the discs.

Premises of TNT, which delivers HMRC mail have also been searched as part of the extensive hunt for the discs.

On Saturday, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) confirmed that a further six data discs had gone missing in transit between its offices in Preston and London.

The discs, which were reported missing on October 30, contained recorded conversations between a member of staff and a customer making a complaint.

The first two missing discs hold the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16.

The data on them includes the name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25 million people. The discs were intended for the National Audit Office (NAO) in London, but never arrived from HMRC's office in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

(BMcC)