Council's apology for data leaked on web

The email, seen by The Gazette, said a link on the council’s website provided access to 13,972 pages of information, of which 586 may have included an email addresses of people who took part in a survey about dog control.

The link was available for 27 hours and 28 minutes, during which time there were 38 unique visitors to the page, it added.

Fylde Council did not respond to requests for a comment on the email, which said an investigation revealed employees failed to thoroughly check a sufficient sample of the data sets before publishing the information on the their website.

The email, signed by chief executive Allan Oldfield, said: “I want to personally reassure you that all the recommendations in the investigation have been accepted and will be implemented immediately to ensure that this error cannot be repeated and to offer you my sincere apologies for this error that led to your complaint.”

The council has promised to ‘improve data protection competence and understanding through a programme of training’ for all relevant officers involved in data management and carry out a self-assessment of compliance with the Data Protection Act, the email added.

It said the Information Commisssioner’s Office would be invited to carry out an audit and the council’s data assurance policy would be updated.