Letwin broke law by dumping documents, says ICO
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Data protection watchdog raps minister for disposing of sensitive documents in a park dustbin, but says he has learned his lession
Cabinet minister Oliver Letwin MP was in breach of the Data Protection Act when he repeatedly dumped constituency documents in a dustbin in St James' Park, the Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said today.
Following an investigation into Letwin's behaviour, first reported last month, the ICO found that the dumped documents contained personal information on 20 individuals, including names, addresses and contact details, as well as information relating to someone's recent medical treatment.
"Constituents entrust their Member of Parliament with all sorts of personal information and should never expect the details of the concerns they’ve raised in confidence to end up in a park bin for anyone to see," Graham said.
In a statement, the ICO said that Letwin had signed a commitment to ensuring that sensitive documents are disposed of lawfully in the future. "It is clear that Mr Letwin has learned from this incident."
"If we receive any further reports or complaints about Mr Letwin’s conduct in this area then we will consider taking more formal action," Graham said. "I’m sure this case will also prompt other MPs to review their handling of personal data to ensure they’re doing all they can to keep it secure."
Since Letwin was caught disposing of documents in this way, unshredded documents containing sensitive information were found in Cabinet Minister Vince Cable's recycling bins.
Meanwhile, the successful campaign to elect Ruth Davidson as the leader of the Scottish Conservative party was found to have broken the 2003 Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) by sending unsolicited emails to party members.
In September, the ICO questioned education minister Michael Gove over his use of GMail to send work-related emails, after civil servants were unable to locate documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act as a result.
