Park Bin Document-Dumping Minister Letwin Let Off Despite Breaking Law

Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin broke the law when he dumped official documents in a park bin, the Information Commissioner has ruled - though he's been let off with a warning.

Letwin was caught putting documents - including sensitive material relating to his constituents - in a bin at St James's Park in October.

Some documents were recovered and handed over to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) by the newspaper.

The ICO found that the letters and emails contained the names, addresses and contact details of approximately 20 individuals.

One email also included information relating to an individual's recent hospital treatment.

However despite being found to have breached data protection, Letwin has only been given a telling off.

He has signed an "undertaking" promising to handle data with care and in accordance with the law in future.

"Constituents entrust their Member of Parliament with all sorts of personal information and should never expect the details of the concerns they've raised in confidence to end up in a park bin for anyone to see," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.

"It is fortunate that most of the information he discarded was not of a particularly sensitive nature and was therefore unlikely to cause substantial distress to his constituents.

Graham added that if Letwin is caught doing anything similar again then "we will consider taking more formal action".

Letwin apologised back in October for mishandling data.