Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 468: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on a query (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32468/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The laptop belonging to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) was reported missing in April 2007. On 1st of August, 2008 some 16 months after the laptop went missing, the Office of the C&AG informed the Department that the missing laptop contained a number of files used in connection with the audit of the Social Insurance Fund for 2004 and 2005. These files contained some 380,000 individual personal customer records.

On being notified of the contents of the laptop on 1 August, 2008, the Department moved swiftly to respond to the incident and has taken all reasonable steps to minimise the concerns of the customers whose records were on the laptop. The Department contacted the Gardaí, various other Government and payment institutions to inform them of the situation. From enquiries it was established that there is no indication of any systematic misuse of the information contained on the laptop in the seventeen months since the theft occurred.

On 11 August, 2008, I publicly expressed my concern that the theft of this information would cause anxiety to customers and announced that the Department would be writing to all those whose personal details were contained on the laptop. Advertisements were placed in national and regional newspapers to notify the public of the incident and outline the Department's response. The letters, as below, detailed the particular information contained on the laptop and provided advice and reassurance based on the information that had been lost. The letters did contain a statement of regret by the Department for any concerns which the incident may have caused and provided details of the dedicated freephone helpline that the Department had established to deal with customers enquiries, offer advice and allay concerns.

The Department worked closely with the Data Protection Commissioner in relation to its response to this incident. The Commissioner welcomed the manner in which the Department addressed the issue by writing to those directly affected and in establishing a dedicated helpdesk to provide further information and assistance as required. He stated publicly that he considered that this approach represented "best practice and a truly first rate response in the circumstances".

BIRD (post office & cheque)

Department of Social and Family Affairs

PO Box 12000

Dublin 1

www.welfare.ie

[name

Address

Address

Address

Address]

Dear

As you may be aware from recent reports, the Department of Social and Family Affairs has been informed by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) that one of its stolen laptop computers contained personal and payment information relating to social welfare customers.

We have been working with the Office of the C&AG to identify customers who may have been affected. The C&AG has told us that the following information about you was included on the laptop:

name, address

PPS number

payment and other personal information including date of birth, and marital status.

A period of 16 months has passed since this event occurred. The Department has no evidence that customer information has been misused or compromised in anyway. It is unlikely that your information has therefore been misused.

If you have suspicions that there has been any misuse of your information, you should write to this Department at Freepost, PO Box 12000, Dublin 1 or by email at helpline@welfare.ie giving details of your concerns. If you wish to talk to an official of the Department about this matter you can contact us at Freephone: 1800 690 590 (9am to 6pm).

We are engaged in a continuous programme of improvement to ensure that best practices are adopted in safeguarding personal information entrusted to us. As part of this programme we have tightened procedures for the provision of information to other bodies.

The Department very much regrets any concerns which this incident may cause you but wants to assure you that we take any breach of security very seriously.

Yours sincerely,

[signature]

Niamh O'Donoghue

Director General.

BIRD (bank)

Department of Social and Family Affairs

PO Box 12000

Dublin 1

www.welfare.ie

[Name

Address

Address

Address

Address]

Dear

As you may be aware from recent reports, the Department of Social and Family Affairs has been informed by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) that one of its stolen laptop computers contained personal and payment information relating to social welfare customers.

We have been working with the Office of the C&AG to identify customers who may have been affected. The C&AG has told us that the following information about you was included on the laptop:

name, address, PPS number bank account details

payment and other personal information including date of birth, and marital status.

A period of 16 months has passed since this event occurred. The Department has no evidence that customer information has been misused or compromised in anyway. It is unlikely that your information has therefore been misused.

As your payment was being made into your bank account, we have notified your bank about the incident so that they can carry out appropriate checks. However, we would advise you to check your bank statements to assure yourself that there has been no unusual activity on your account, since the theft occurred in April 2007. If you have any concerns, please contact your bank.

If you have suspicions that there has been any misuse of your information, you should write to this Department at Freepost, PO Box 12000, Dublin 1 or by email at helpline@welfare.ie giving details of your concerns. If you wish to talk to an official of the Department about this matter you can contact us at Freephone: 1800 690 590 (9am to 6pm).

We are engaged in a continuous programme of improvement to ensure that best practices are adopted in safeguarding personal information entrusted to us. As part of this programme we have tightened procedures for the provision of information to other bodies.

The Department very much regrets any concerns which this incident may cause you but wants to assure you that we take any breach of security very seriously.

Yours sincerely,

[signature]

Niamh O'Donoghue

Director General.