A computer containing "restricted" information was stolen from the office of a British cabinet minister in a break-in, the government said today, in the second serious security breach in a week.
Police said they were investigating a weekend burglary at the constituency office of Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears in Manchester, northern England.
Civil servants acknowledged breaking information security guidelines yet again, a week after one of the country's top intelligence officials embarrassed the government by leaving a file with top secret documents about al Qaeda and Iraq on a commuter train.
"There was a break-in at the constituency office of Hazel Blears on the afternoon of Saturday, June 14th. Hazel was not there at the time," a government statement said.
"The thief broke in through a window, triggering the building's security alarm. A PC (personal computer) was stolen. Nothing else was taken. We understand the building's security staff arrived within minutes."
"There was some restricted information on the PC, but as we have made clear, there is no secret or top secret information," it said.
The top civil servant in the Communities department, Peter Housden, acknowledged that rules for protecting information had been broken in sending files to Blears.
"It is clear that papers have been sent to Hazel Blears in a way that is not fully consistent with the departmental guidance," he said in a statement.
"Thankfully no damage has been done since the documents sent to her were not classified as secret or top secret. And in any event the computer was password protected."
Reuters