Policies never achieved anything. Just put them on the shelf and say " Yes, we have a policy for that".

The implementation of policies, including staff training, is the only thing that will prevent future breaches of this nature.

This must be supported by a range of appropriate sanctions against those who are in breach.

The suggested offence of "reckless handling of data" just like "reckless driving" would be extremely difficult to prove and would necessitate proof of "intent to lose" or of "having no regard for the possible outcome".

A charge of "Careless handling" should be laid against anyone who contributes to the loss of data - the sanction applied to be appropriate to the level of carelessness and volume / sensitivity of the data involved.

The law must, of course, apply to everyone - no exemptions - no exceptions.

R Bingham, Lauzun, France

In many areas of private or public failures its long been pointless in just fining the companies when the shareholders or taxpayers pick up the costs. Loss of data, MRSA in hospitals and corporate homicide should all involve a penalty against those directly responsible and appropriate recompense for the victims. The costs to an individual for ID theft are incalculable and its no good for a bank or government department to dump the problem on the victim alone. Even a simple case of credit card fraud where the bank eventually picks up the actual fraud costs, it still takes an individual several hours plus phone calls at their expense to resolve the problem. I would propose that in addition to possible criminal charges, where any body has lost data that caused ID theft or fraud, they should immediately reimburse the victim for all direct and INDIRECT costs relating to their shoddy handling of personal data. Only this will focus attention to those who abuse our trust.

Mike, Alicante, Spain

What seems to have been missed on all of the reports is that the goverment has been trying to role out a "new" system called Government Connect which allows local authorities to exchange RESTRICED data between a number of organinsations including Police, NHS, DWP, DCFS and many more. This would in most cases negate the need for the use of couriers. Even with the cases ongoing it is difficult to believe that Local Authorities still see no business case for connectivity even though they are getting it free for possibly 2 years and maybe more. All details on the website http://www.govconnect.gov.uk/

Alan, Doncaster,