The Home Office broke data protection laws when a contractor lost a memory stick with information on thousands of prisoners, a watchdog has ruled.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said the Home Office must also sign a formal undertaking to improve its procedures for protecting data.
A PA Consulting employee left the stick in an unlocked drawer last August.
It contained the names, addresses and expected release dates of 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.
Read more on BBC
Related – ICO takes enforcement action against NHS Trusts for data losses [pdf] ICO Press Release