The personal details of 600,000 people have been lost after a laptop belonging to a Royal Navy officer was stolen, the Government revealed tonight.

The laptop, stolen from the officer in Birmingham on the night of January 9, contained personal information from people who had joined up to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force and from people who had expressed an interest in joining.

Entries on the computer included passport details, National Insurance numbers, drivers’ licence details, family details, doctors’ addresses and NHS numbers, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“The stolen laptop contained personal information relating to some 600,000 people who have either expressed an interest in, or have joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force,” an MoD spokesman said.

The MoD added that it was urgently writing to around 3,500 people whose bank details were included on the database. Police are investigating the theft.

It marks the latest data protection disaster for the Government, after eight NHS trusts were reported to have lost 168,000 patient details in December.

In addition, in the same month, the personal details of three million learner drivers were revealed to have been lost in the US state of Iowa.

That followed an even more embarrassing saga in which 25 million child benefit claimants' details were lost in November by HM Revenue and Customs.

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