Government information ministers and departments including the National Archives are battening down the hatches as the information continues to be a dirty word for the British government. The release of a new Information Matters guide for government information management has been postponed and Michael Wills, the minister responsible for data protection admitted that he was not informed of the HMRC debacle until the House of Commons announcement last week.

The launch of the Information Matters guide to good government information management has been postponed until the New Year. Senior civil servant Sir Gus O'Donnell was due to announce the guide to IWR and members of the press this Thursday in association with the National Archives, but an urgent email this morning cancelled the event, "as the immediate priority in the wake of the HMRC issue is a check of data handling procedures in government". The National Archives describes Information Matters as "one of the many tools that government is using to raise both awareness and capability in this area."

Information Matters was prepared by the National Audit Office, National Archives and the Cabinet Office for senior public service managers. "Through case studies and practical guidance it highlights the benefits of managing information well," the National Archives stated in a letter to IWR, adding, "It also raises awareness of the very serious risk of not putting information management at the heart of every public service organisation."

Michael Wills, Minister of State at the new Justice Ministry was given a grilling yesterday by MPs and disclosed that despite being responsible for data protection, the first he knew of the civil service blunder was when it was announced to the House of Commons last week. Tackled by his peers a noticeably rattled Wills said, "My responsibility is not to stop leaks; it is to construct legislation procedures for when a leak takes place." He then went on to admit that the government's plans to introduce an ID card will be affected by the leak. "The ID database will have to be looked at again, what I am certain about is that everything will be scrutinised."

Parents across the country received letters from Dave Hartnett, the Acting Chairman of HM Revenue & Customs yesterday apologising for the mistakes of his department. The letter confirmed that the stolen data contained details of children's names, dates of birth, address, National Insurance numbers and bank account details. "I can assure you that all efforts are being made to ensure that such a loss can never happen again.