Education minister apologises after data breach

Personal details of more than 400 people have been shared by the Department of Education (DE) in a data breach.

The Education Minister, Paul Givan, has "unreservedly" apologised to those affected.

The data breach involved names, email addresses and comments made by 407 people.

All had expressed an interest in contributing to a review of Special Educational Needs (SEN) being carried out by the department.

To take part, they were asked to provide details about themselves including comments about why they were interested in the review.

But according to a statement from the department, a spreadsheet containing that information was subsequently emailed to another 174 people interested in going to workshops about the SEN review by DE on 1 August.

Those 174 people who received the personal data in error have been asked by DE to delete the information and to confirm they have done so.

An email sent to those affected by the data breach from the head of the review team has been seen by BBC News NI.

"We are very sorry that this has happened and would reassure you that we are doing everything that we can to minimise any impact of this breach," the email said.

One parent whose data was shared has spoken to BBC News NI.

"Some people may have given information about their own special needs or the diagnosis their children have received," they said.

"It shouldn't happen as people involved were coming forward to try to help and improve the system.

"The SEN system is a system that already has problems with parents when it comes to trust so this is not a good start."

In a statement, Mr Givan said that his department was investigating the circumstances of the breach.

“The department takes its responsibilities around data protection extremely seriously and we unreservedly apologise to all those affected as this should not have happened," he said.

“An initial notification has been made to the office of the Information Commissioner regarding the data breach and the department will continue to engage with them as they conduct their investigation.

“As our investigation continues, all those impacted, as well as the information commissioner’s office, will be kept updated.”