The UK’s Department for Education (DFE) has been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner following an investigation that revealed that betting firms were allowed to use personal information of up to 28 million children.
According to the Information Commissioner, the data breach is one of the largest in the history of the UK government and included personal information and exam results. Betting firms used this data to increase the number of young people gambling.
Commissioner John Edwards noted that had the breach been caused by a company in the private sector, he would have issued a fine of at least £10 million for such a ‘serious breach of the law’.
Edwards said:
“No one needs persuading that a database of pupils’ learning records being used to help gambling companies is unacceptable. Our investigation found that the processes put in place by the DFE were woeful.
“Data was being misused, and the DFE was unaware there was even a problem. We all have an absolute right to expect that our central government departments treat the data they hold on us with the utmost respect and security. Even more so when it comes to the information of 28 million children.
This was a serious breach of the law, and one that would have warranted a £10 million fine in this specific case. I have taken the decision not to issue that fine, as any money paid in fines is returned to government, and so the impact would have been minimal. But that should not detract from how serious the errors we have highlighted were, nor how urgently they needed addressing by the Department for Education.”
The investigation revealed that a third party private company called Trustopia accessed the information. However, this company has no role in education with its sole service being age verification for gambling firms.
The Commissioner found that Trustopia had access to the learning records service database (LRS) database from September 2018 to January 2020. The company carried out searches on 22,000 learners for age verification purposes. According to the report one gambling firm boosted the numbers of young people passing its identity checks by 15 per cent by using the database.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.