Stolen laptop has details of 33,000 children

A laptop containing the personal profiles of 33,000 children including some with special needs was among a desk of computers raided from a local government office.



Wigan council said the stolen data, including names, dates of birth, ethnicity and any special needs of under-16s, listed all pupils on its main school improvement database.



It was stored on a password-protected laptop taken during a raid on the council's main offices in January, news of which its bosses only made public on Friday.



Playing down the security threat, the council said all carers and parents of the children affected were being notified and that a police investigation was already underway.



Officials explained they decided to speak up about the burglary "because we believe people deserve to know what has happened."



The thieves would have "no use" for the dataset and it was "possible that it has already been deleted," said Nick Hudson, its director of young people's services,



He added: "Apart from the names, the data on the children is in the form of numbers and codes and there are no comments or individual case note."



The theft, which the Information Commissioner is investigating, reinforces concern about the government's unrivalled tendency to collect and centralise sensitive details.



It may also revive calls that UK ministers should adopt US-style data security laws, which force businesses to immediately notify consumers if their information is lost or stolen.



It coincides with the introduction today of a new European Directive requiring all internet service providers to retain email, website and voice call records for 12 months.



Like phone companies, which are already bound to store time, date and location of all calls for a year, ISPs must now keep Web traffic for possible use in terrorism or criminal investigations.