Government blunder puts farmers at risk
Thousands of farmers have had their personal bank account details compromised by the Rural Payments Agency after the government body loses tapes containing personal information of thousands of farmers.
It is thought that not only has data been lost of farmers claiming EU subsidies this year but data has been lost of any farmer who has claimed in the past.
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn, said that inventory checks earlier this year had revealed that 38 data backup tapes and one CD were unaccounted for. While 35 tapes have since been found, three more and one CD remain unaccounted for. Of those, one tape and a CD did not contain personal data, but the two remaining tapes may have done.
The Secretary of State has assured farmers that the risk of useable personal details having been lost is low. He said the data could only be read with specialist equipment. He also said that there was no evidence that the tapes are in the public domain.
Shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert questioned why this had only been revealed today. He said: "The reason the Secretary of State has suddenly announced another data loss by the government is Farmers Weekly obtained the information and will report it tomorrow.
"Why has the public not been told about this until now?"
But Mr Benn insisted he had informed the Commons as soon as possible, responding: "I was informed yesterday. I thought it was important to take first opportunity inform the House."
Because the data on the lost discs was encoded - and therefore could not be read - a judgement had been made in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance not to inform ministers right away about the data loss, the Secreatry of State added.
Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and Liberal Democrat Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson, has today criticised the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, for the loss of farmers’ bank details by the Rural Payments Agency.
Mr Williams said: "This latest loss of records is just another in a long line of incompetent data management by the current Government. That being said, it does not make it any less damaging for farmers and farm businesses."
"The loss of data in itself is extremely worrying, but the suggestion that senior civil servants did not inform those farmers affected by this is staggering.
"DEFRA claim that the missing tapes have been placed ’on the wrong shelf’. This is a major cause for concern as it appears the Department still do not know where the missing tapes are.
"I have long had concerns about the workings of the Rural Payments Agency and this latest episode will do nothing to reassure farmers about the ability of the Agency to deliver effectively for the agriculture sector."
NFU President Peter Kendall said: "We are horrified that the RPA cannot locate two tapes which may contain farmers’ personal data; but the Secretary of State has assured farmers that the risk of useable personal data having been lost is low.
"We are also very concerned that although the tapes appear to have been identified as missing earlier this year, farmers have only now been told about this issue. The Secretary of State said that he was informed about this issue yesterday and has told the House of Commons at the first opportunity, but we want to know why this was not reported to the Secretary of State and to the industry as soon as the tapes were known to be missing. There are questions here that need answering.
"Farmers will be extremely worried about the vulnerability of their data and in particular their bank details, which farmers have been required to provide to the RPA. For that reason, we will be looking for the strongest assurances from the RPA that everything is being done to locate these tapes.
"We will ask the RPA to review its Data Protection procedures to make sure that all data held by the RPA relating to farmers’ businesses is kept secure."