The Shadow Minister for Industry and Technology, Michael Fabricant, today calls on the Government to take urgent action to prevent further abuse of Government computer records.

His demand follows the jailing of Barry Dickinson, the civil servant who used the DVLA database to help animal rights terrorists to line up targets in Staffordshire.

In a series of Parliamentary Questions, he will ask all ministers whose departments keep personal databases whether they check if employees have a criminal past and what safeguards there are, if any, to prevent records being misused.

Mr Fabricant said today: “This conviction reveals a scandalous lack of security surrounding personal computer records kept by Government departments.

“It looks as if the worst nightmares of the civil liberties lobby are coming true.
“More and more personal records are being kept on government databases, including those operated by the DVLA, the police national computer, and the benefits agency.

“A future Conservative Government would immediately introduce safeguards to ensure that records concerning the private lives of citizens cannot be misused either for criminal activities or for idle curiosity.”