Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Identity Fraud, has today expressed his amazement at the report by the The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust that said the UK's "database state" wastes billions from the public purse and often breaches human rights laws. The Cross Party Trust examined 46 public sector systems and reported that 11 were "almost certainly" illegal under human rights or data protection laws and over a quarter were in need of an overhaul.

 Mr Evans said,

“This report has expressed what many of us have feared and articulated over the last few years, namely that this Government is incompetent when it comes to the handling of personal data.

 “When you have databases that range from information about children, health records, criminal and DNA records and National Insurance records which are mismanaged, you allow fraudsters the opportunity to piece together entire lives.

 “One of the more startling revelations is that of the Department of Work and Pensions data sharing scheme. The report states that the Department is developing an £89m identity system for anyone who has ever had a National Insurance number, which will be accessible to 140,000 government staff and 445 local authorities. Astonishingly, it goes on to say staff at 30 councils are already abusing the system even at this embryonic stage and that information is being made available to private firms.

 “I think that this report has accurately demonstrated the complacent attitude that Whitehall has when it comes to the protection of personal information. There must be a change in culture and an understanding of just how unacceptable the current situation is.”