Data Disaster

Poor Alastair Darling. He seems to be handed jobs where there is someone else’s mess to clear up. In Rugby we remember him as the Transport Minister who took over responsibility for aviation just as the Government launched a white paper including absurd proposals for a massive new international airport at Church Lawford. There are still placards on trees saying “No Airport here, Darling”.

Now he finds himself as Chancellor with two of the biggest crises to hit this Government in his area of responsibility with the latest being an almost incredible loss of trust in Government to protect personal information. However both the Northern Rock crisis and the current fiasco over the loss of 25 million child benefit details have their origins in decisions taken by Gordon Brown before he became Prime Minister. The first because of changes made to the regulation of the banking industry and the second because of the merger between Customs & Excise and The Inland Revenue. Darling owes his position to Brown, so it is pretty difficult for him to blame his predecessor, but the hand of Gordon Brown is all over the Government’s current problems. With their reputation for economic and administrative competence now all but gone, people will regret not having had the opportunity for change that was tantalisingly close earlier this month.

One aspect of the “data disaster” remarked upon by one commentator is the fact that the records lost consist of details of 25 million people, which is half the UK population! The tax and benefit system has become so complicated under this Government as a consequence of changes introduced by Gordon Brown that such a massive proportion of the people are affected. It is this which has led to the need for a huge bureaucracy to administer it, often by untrained staff, which has in turn contributed to the current problem. And these people want to introduce centralised health records and identity cards!