Call for inquiry into government leak of honours list addresses

Politicians have called for an inquiry into how more than 1,000 prominent figures who are to receive honours had their home and work addresses posted on a government website.

Personal details of those on the new year honours list – including more than a dozen MoD employees and senior counter-terrorism officers – were published in a downloadable list at 10.30pm on Friday. The Cabinet Office said the document was visible on its website for around an hour, though it was circulated on social media after that.

Sir Bob Kerslake, who was head of the civil service between 2012 and 2014 and is a crossbench peer, has led calls for an urgent investigation into how the addresses came to be published.

“It is a serious and indeed extraordinary breach because this is a well-established process that has gone on in pretty much the same way for years, so I think an urgent investigation is certainly needed,” he told BBC Breakfast on Sunday.

“Of course, it’s likely to be human error, as has been suggested, but we need to know how well staff were trained about the importance of maintaining security. Were they briefed on the potential consequences if this information was released?”

Kerslake added: “There are significant consequences here and we need to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.” He said it would be premature for Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, to resign over the leak as we first needed “a much better understanding of why it happened”.

Ed Davey, the interim leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the government had broken its own data protection laws in the “most serious way” and that Sedwill should be asked to lead an investigation, “so the causes of this drastic mistake are uncovered as soon as possible and are never repeated”.

There is considerable anger within Whitehall about the leak, with insiders acknowledging within minutes of it emerging that it was highly embarrassing and there could be national security implications, given that some senior police officers were on the list.

Of particular concern was the possibility that hostile states – such as Russia or China – would have obtained the sensitive information and could use it to their advantage.

The former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who is to receive a knighthood and whose address was published, told the Sunday Times that the breach was a “complete disaster”.

“Ministers need to be asking some very serious questions of those involved about how this was allowed to happen and why no final checks were carried out before the document was published,” he said.

“Everybody knows virtually everything about me. It’s much more concerning for private citizens, like those who have been involved in policing or counter-terrorism or other such sensitive cases, to have their addresses published.”

The Hackney councillor and charity worker Mete Coban, who was awarded an MBE for services to young people, told the news agency PA Media: “If those responsible have apologised and it is a genuine error, then there is not much more that can be done.

“I understand why others are concerned, but most of my details are online because of the council work anyway. It is not ideal, but what is done is done.”

Prominent public figures including the musician Elton John, the cricketer Ben Stokes, NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, the TV chef Nadiya Hussain, and the former director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders were also among those whose home addresses were published. Less well-known figures included academics, Holocaust survivors, prison staff and community and faith leaders.

A member of the public contacted the Guardian after downloading the spreadsheet from the government website page where the 2020 new year honours list was posted.

“I couldn’t quite believe my eyes at first,” she said. “I thought maybe that’s just what they do. But then I checked past spreadsheets and saw there was nothing on those and I realised this must have been a catastrophic mistake.”

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “A version of the new year honours 2020 list was published in error which contained recipients’ addresses. The information was removed as soon as possible.

“We apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened. We have reported the matter to the ICO [Information Commissioner’s Office] and are contacting all those affected directly.”

The ICO, which has the power to impose large fines on organisations for data breaches, said it was investigating. “In response to reports of a data breach involving the Cabinet Office and the NY honours list, the ICO will be making inquiries,” said a spokesperson.