Latest news with #Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Thousands of Afghans won't receive compensation from UK over data breach
Thousands of Afghans included on a list of people trying to flee the Taliban are likely to miss out on compensation after their details were accidentally leaked. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it will 'robustly defend' an expected legal bid for compensation, adding it is 'highly unlikely' those on the leaked spreadsheet were targeted as a result. The MoD will also not proactively offer small compensation payments to those affected by the breach. The data breach saw details of 18,714 applicants for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme released in 2022. It exposed up to 100,000 Afghans to potential reprisals from the Taliban, cost the UK taxpayer billions and prompted a two-year cover-up through the use of an unprecedented superinjunction. It also saw the establishment of a secret scheme, the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), to bring some of those affected to the UK. But the MoD spokesman pointed to an independent review which found there is now little danger that appearing on the leaked spreadsheet would be enough to result in being targeted by the Taliban. Hundreds of data protection claims are expected to be lodged, with the High Court hearing earlier this week that a Manchester-based firm already had several hundred prospective clients. Previous Afghan data breaches led to the MoD compensating people whose details were leaked. Earlier this month, before the superinjunction preventing reporting of the 2022 leak was lifted, armed forces minister Luke Pollard announced £1.6m in compensation for a separate incident involving the release of Afghan nationals' data. Mr Pollard said the MoD had agreed to pay up to £4,000 to each of the 265 people whose details were mistakenly copied into emails sent by the Government in September 2021. That breach also saw the Government fined £350,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). But the ICO has said it will take no further action in relation to the larger 2022 breach, with Information Commissioner John Edwards saying there was 'little we could add in this case' given the 'high degree of public scrutiny' the MoD was already facing. In total, the Government expects 6,900 people to be brought to the UK under the ARR scheme, with costs reaching £850 million. Along with the Afghan nationals, the breach saw details of more than 100 British officials compromised, including special forces and MI6 personnel. Hundreds of MoD data breaches have now been revealed as questions intensify over its ability to keep sensitive information safe in the wake of the Afghan leak. The latest MoD figures show there were 569 incidents in 2023-24 – up from 550 the previous year – which included electronic devices being lost and protected documents not being disposed of properly. In one incident last year, the details of 272,000 staff – including names and bank details – were breached when one of its systems, run by an external contractor, was hacked by a 'malign actor'.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
MoD to ‘robustly defend' compensation claims from Afghans in data breach case
Thousands of Afghans included on a list of people trying to flee the Taliban are unlikely to receive compensation after their details were accidentally leaked. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Government would 'robustly defend' any legal action or bid for compensation, adding these were 'hypothetical claims'. It has also been reported that the MoD will not proactively offer compensation to those affected. The data breach, which saw details of 18,714 applicants for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme released in 2022, prompted an unprecedented gagging order amid fears the Taliban could target would-be refugees for reprisals. It also saw the establishment of a secret scheme, the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), to bring some of those affected to the UK. But the MoD spokesman pointed to an independent review which found there is now little danger that appearing on the leaked spreadsheet would be enough to result in being targeted by the Taliban. Hundreds of data protection claims are expected to be lodged, with the High Court hearing earlier this week that a Manchester-based firm already had several hundred prospective clients. Previous Afghan data breaches led to the MoD compensating people whose details were leaked. Earlier this month, before the superinjunction preventing reporting of the 2022 leak was lifted, armed forces minister Luke Pollard announced £1.6 million in compensation for a separate incident involving the release of Afghan nationals' data. Mr Pollard said the MoD had agreed to pay up to £4,000 to each of the 265 people whose details were mistakenly copied into emails sent by the Government in September 2021. That breach also saw the Government fined £350,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). But the ICO has said it will take no further action in relation to the larger 2022 breach, with Information Commissioner John Edwards saying there was 'little we could add in this case' given the 'high degree of public scrutiny' the MoD was already facing. In total, the Government expects 6,900 people to be brought to the UK under the ARR scheme, with costs reaching £850 million. Along with the Afghan nationals, the breach saw details of more than 100 British officials compromised, including special forces and MI6 personnel.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
MoD to ‘robustly defend' compensation claims from Afghans in data breach case
Thousands of Afghans included on a list of people trying to flee the Taliban are unlikely to receive compensation after their details were accidentally leaked. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Government would 'robustly defend' any legal action or bid for compensation, adding these were 'hypothetical claims'. It has also been reported that the MoD will not proactively offer compensation to those affected. The data breach, which saw details of 18,714 applicants for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme released in 2022, prompted an unprecedented gagging order amid fears the Taliban could target would-be refugees for reprisals. It also saw the establishment of a secret scheme, the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), to bring some of those affected to the UK. But the MoD spokesman pointed to an independent review which found there is now little danger that appearing on the leaked spreadsheet would be enough to result in being targeted by the Taliban. Hundreds of data protection claims are expected to be lodged, with the High Court hearing earlier this week that a Manchester-based firm already had several hundred prospective clients. Previous Afghan data breaches led to the MoD compensating people whose details were leaked. Earlier this month, before the superinjunction preventing reporting of the 2022 leak was lifted, armed forces minister Luke Pollard announced £1.6 million in compensation for a separate incident involving the release of Afghan nationals' data. Mr Pollard said the MoD had agreed to pay up to £4,000 to each of the 265 people whose details were mistakenly copied into emails sent by the Government in September 2021. That breach also saw the Government fined £350,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). But the ICO has said it will take no further action in relation to the larger 2022 breach, with Information Commissioner John Edwards saying there was 'little we could add in this case' given the 'high degree of public scrutiny' the MoD was already facing. In total, the Government expects 6,900 people to be brought to the UK under the ARR scheme, with costs reaching £850 million. Along with the Afghan nationals, the breach saw details of more than 100 British officials compromised, including special forces and MI6 personnel.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
More than 100 Britons' details in leaked Afghan dataset, including spies and SAS
The details of more than 100 Britons, including spies and special forces, were included in a massive data leak that resulted in thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK. Defence sources have said that details of MI6 spies, SAS and special forces personnel were included in the spreadsheet, after they had endorsed Afghans who had applied to be brought to the UK. The dataset, containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) became aware of the breach more than a year later, when excerpts of the spreadsheet were anonymously posted in a Facebook group in August 2023. Other details leaked included the names and contact details of the Arap applicants and names of their family members. In a statement on Tuesday, after an unprecedented superinjunction was lifted by a High Court judge, Defence Secretary John Healey offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the British Government for the data breach. He later told the Commons the spreadsheet contained 'names and contact details of applicants and, in some instances, information relating to applicants' family members, and in a small number of cases the names of members of Parliament, senior military officers and Government officials were noted as supporting the application'. 'This was a serious departmental error,' he added. Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge also apologised on behalf of the former Conservative government, which was in power when the leak happened and when it was discovered more than a year later. Mr Cartlidge later asked Mr Healey about reports that someone other than the original person who leaked the data had been engaged in blackmail. Arap was responsible for relocating Afghan nationals who had worked for or with the UK Government and were therefore at risk of reprisals once the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'. The breach resulted in the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – by the previous government in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected cost once completed of around £850 million. Millions more are expected to be paid in legal costs and compensation. Around 4,500 people, made up of 900 Arap applicants and approximately 3,600 family members, have been brought to the UK or are in transit so far through the Afghanistan Response Route. A further estimated 600 people and their relatives are expected to be relocated before the scheme closes, with a total of around 6,900 people expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. Projected costs of the scheme may include relocation costs, transitional accommodation, legal costs and local authority tariffs. The case returned to the High Court in London on Thursday, sitting in a closed session in the morning where journalists and their lawyers were excluded. While private hearings exclude the public and press but allow the parties in the case to remain, closed hearings require specific lawyers who can deal with sensitive issues, including national security. During the public part of the hearing, Mr Justice Chamberlain said that while he needed to give lawyers for the Ministry of Defence an 'opportunity' to argue why a closed hearing was needed, 'I will be scrutinising very carefully any justification for holding any part of this hearing in private, let alone in closed'. The judge later said he would not be 'kicking the ball down the road'. He added: 'The superinjunction has now been lifted and if there are other matters that are capable of being reported in public, that needs to be able to happen straight away.' Also on Thursday, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) requested a number of documents used in the superinjunction proceedings be provided to it 'immediately'. This includes intelligence assessments from the MoD and the Joint Intelligence Organisation, as well as the unredacted report of retired civil servant Paul Rimmer. ISC chairman Lord Beamish continued that the committee had also asked for the reasons why barristers for the Government previously told the Court of Appeal that information about the breach could not be shared with the ISC.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Spies and special forces among more than 100 Britons whose details were included in Afghan data leak
Personal details of spies and special forces were included in a massive data leak that led to thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK. Information about more than 100 Britons was contained in the breach. Defence sources have said that details of MI6 spies, SAS and special forces personnel were included in the spreadsheet, after they had backed Afghans who had applied to be brought to the UK. It comes after the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), was released "in error" in February 2022 by a defence official. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
