5.4m of us apply for a passport every year and we relay on the Passport Office Service, a part of the Home Office to issue them.
They say their mission is safeguarding your identity but Watchdog has received complaints from viewers who say that the Passport Office Service have made basic errors meaning that their details have ended up with strangers.
Read more on BBC Watchdog.
The show contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office. Mick Gorrill, Assistant Information Commissioner, said:
“I am grateful to Watchdog for bringing these matters to our attention. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) takes breaches of individuals’ privacy very seriously. Any organisation which processes personal information must ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to keep that information secure. This is an important principle of the Data Protection Act. We will be considering all the evidence available and will contact the Home Office to establish what has gone wrong. The ICO will then assess what regulatory action, if any, should be taken in the circumstances.”