The Information Commissioner’s Office has launched an investigation after Government minister Oliver Lewtin admitted to regularly throwing away potentially sensitive correspondence and official documents in a park bin on his way to work.
Letwin said he “sincerely apologised” and pledged to stop “disposing of copies of documents and constituency correspondence in this way”.
Letwin was photographed by a the Mirror newspaper on five days last month and this month in St James Park, Westminster, reading letters and other documents, and then throwing them away in public litter bins.
In all 100 documents were thrown away during his regular early morning walks near his office in the Cabinet Office on Whitehall.
They included letters from other ministers, fellow MPs, and constituents. Some documents were said to include the personal details of constituents, including home addresses and telephone numbers.
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s Office said: “We are aware of the allegations and are making inquiries. Keeping personal data secure is a key principle of the Data Protection Act and the ICO takes any breach of that principle very seriously.”
For serious breaches of the Data Protection Act the ICO can issue fines of up to £500,000.
According to reports, Letwin is prone to gaffes. One insider said: “He is the man who nearly set fire to Parliament when he put his cigar in a bin, who had to hide behind hedge rows during half the 2001 general election because he said something silly in 2001 and he let a burglar into his home. Unbelievable.”
