Commenting on reports that staff at the Department for Work and Pensions have been sending out highly sensitive data in packages that include the passwords, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander said:

"The Government’s strategy for protecting citizens’ personal information is a shambles.

"We’ve had mislaid CDs, lost laptops and now passwords are being circulated with the information they are supposed to protect.

"Data protection is being undermined across Whitehall - the very idea that this Government could be responsible for an ID card database is a joke."