Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what date (a) Ministers in his Department were informed of the data breach affecting Afghan nationals who worked with UK forces and (b) that breach was escalated to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Officials were alerted to the data incident on 14 August 2023, and it was reported the next day to Ministry of Defence (MOD) Head Office and Ministers in the previous Government. Immediate action was taken to ensure that the compromised dataset, which had appeared online, was removed and an internal investigation was conducted. The incident was reported to the Metropolitan Police and the Information Commissioner’s Office on 17 August 2025, within 72 hours of first learning about the data incident. The Information Commissioner’s Office has continued to work with the Department on this matter and on improvements to MOD data handling and protection.