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Names, addresses and potential release dates of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales were on the memory stick lost by Home Office contractor, PA Consulting.

The stick also contained the details of 30,000 repeat offenders, who had been convicted of six or more crimes in the last year.

Scotland Yard is investigating the loss, but says no information has been uncovered on what happened to the stick, except that it was lost by an individual member of staff.

"We have been made aware of a security breach at the offices of an external contractor involving the loss of personal information about offenders in England and Wales," says a Home Office spokeswoman. "A full investigation is being conducted. Police and the Information Commissioner have been informed."

Data loss has become a real hot button issue for the Government in recent months, following the loss of 25 million child-benefit records in November.