Healey: Accountability starts now over Afghan data leak and injunction
Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after the breach.
Mr Healey was informed of the breach, which dates back to 2022, while in his shadow role in opposition and earlier this year, he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted.
'Accountability starts now, doesn't it, because it allows the proper scrutiny of what went on, the decisions that Ben Wallace took, the decisions I've taken, and the judgments… and any action or accountability that may be appropriate can follow now,' he told BBC Breakfast.
A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official.
The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a super-injunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak.
Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month injunction and did not know why it was converted into a super-injunction in September 2023, by which time Grant Shapps had taken over as defence secretary.
'But nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He had defended his decision in an article in the Telegraph.
'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said.
The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024.
The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million.
A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme.
It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the data outside a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows.
However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent.
Downing Street declined to say on Tuesday whether the official involved had faced disciplinary action or was still employed by the Government.
Asked if they had faced any sanctions, Mr Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'.
'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC.
He had confirmed the previous day that they were no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief.
The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments.
Mr Healey said he was 'comfortable' he had not misled people but that parliamentary committees would now have a chance to scrutinise the decision he and other ministers before him had made, in remarks to Times Radio.
He had offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday, and said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable' being unable to speak about it in Parliament.
Kemi Badenoch has said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak.
'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC.
Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024.
However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
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ITV News
an hour ago
- ITV News
Left behind in Afghanistan: Tales from behind Taliban lines
"I strongly believe that the leak has made it significantly easier for them to identify and locate us." These are the words of an Afghan who worked for the UK in the country before the Taliban swept back to power in August 2021. Following the chaotic evacuations from Kabul in the same month, many Afghans who had worked for the UK government were left behind. The government set up the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) to try and evacuate those deemed at serious risk from the Taliban due to their association with the UK. However, a dataset that contained the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied to Arap was released "in error" in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach after excerpts of the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023. A superinjunction was then granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. The super-injunction was lifted on Tuesday, following a review, and the people involved were contacted by email, warning them of the potential danger. ITV News has been speaking to people, both inside Afghanistan and in the UK, about the "life or death" risk this has caused them, their relatives and friends. Part of a voicenote sent to ITV News from inside Afghanistan. ITV News has been in contact with an individual who is still inside Afghanistan, on the run from the Taliban. For security reasons, we are unable to say exactly what their role was, but they worked for the UK in Afghanistan. They told us, via voicenote, that despite the precautions they have taken since 2021, this leak may have put them in direct danger. They said: "Yesterday I received an email that our data was leaked in 2022, mistakenly. "We have been extremely cautious about our safety over the past four years. Despite our efforts, my family and I have received multiple threats through social media and direct calls," they explained. They added: "I cannot confirm certainly that the Taliban used the data leaked from the UK side, but I strongly believe that the leak has made it significantly easier for them to identify and locate us." "Despite receiving approval from the UK for relocation, the process is moving slowly and we are still under threat," they finished as the voicenote crackled and went silent. Siblings disunited Tamanna has now safely relocated to the north of England. But her brother is now in graver danger in Afghanistan. He worked in the country as a military officer alongside the UK government. Tamanna says they are in constant contact because of the serious nature of the danger now posed to him because of the data leak. She said: "We're talking about these things a little bit every minute or every second because it's a serious thing." She described that he was feeling "frustrated and anxious". "It was really a shock for him because he already had his concerns and tensions about the safety and security of my family and threats he is facing for the last four years", she said. Tamanna said her brother had already requested support and help to remain safe, but delays in the system and now this data leak have left her feeling even more concerned. "I am here, I cannot do anything and they are in a bad situation." She bemoaned the lack of government help, saying: "I don't know from which source I should get help? I should talk with who? And how can I get support?" Questions for the government ITV News also spoke to Khadija - not her real name - who was working with the UK government in Afghanistan before being evacuated under the Arap scheme. "This issue is the most awful time in my life," she said. She explained that because of the leak "right now, me, my husband, my children, my mom, my sisters, my brother, they are all in direct danger because everyone has their data". She still has a large number of family members in Afghanistan, including parents-in-law, aunts, uncles and cousins, who were all implicated in the data leak. The two cousins are still teenagers and moving about rural areas to stay safe. They can't stay with family for fear of being identified. The personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released "in error" in 2022, ITV News' Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen reports Khadija said she didn't dare tell them about the data leak in case it put them in more trouble. "The only thing I mentioned to them was please, please change your phone number if you can. Change your house again and don't go out alone." Khadija also says she regrets trusting the UK government. "Right now, every day, I mean every minute from yesterday to right now, I regret and just blame myself for trusting the government." She concluded: "If you have a law, you need to follow the law. If the law says that there is a data breach, you need to inform the person. Why didn't you inform everyone at the beginning?" These are questions that will continue to be asked of politicians in Westminster. Talk of a public inquiry has begun, but that will bring little comfort to those in Afghanistan living at the mercy of the Taliban.
North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Tory ex-ministers defend record after PM demands ‘answers' over Afghan data leak
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said he first learned of the data breach, which saw a defence official release details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan, after a legal gagging order had been imposed. Ex-veterans minister Johnny Mercer claimed he had 'receipts' regarding the former Conservative administration's actions in relation to Kabul but said it was 'absurd' to accuse him of failing grasp the scale of crisis. 'I know who is covering their tracks, and who has the courage to be honest,' he said. 'I would caution those who might attempt to rewrite history.' Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of an £850 million scheme set up after the leak, which was kept secret as the result of a superinjunction imposed in 2023 which was only lifted on Tuesday. At Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir insisted there would be scrutiny, which the Conservatives should welcome. 'Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen,' he told MPs. Former prime minister Liz Truss, who was foreign secretary at the time of the breach in February 2022, but a backbencher when the superinjunction was sought, said she was 'shocked' by the 'cover-up'. She said the revelations pointed to a 'huge betrayal of public trust' and 'those responsible in both governments and the bureaucracy need to be held to account'. Mr Mercer said: 'I've spilt my own blood fighting for a better Afghanistan, lost friends, fought to get operators out of the country and away from the Taliban, and visited hundreds of resettled families and hotels in the UK under direct commission from the previous prime minister after the schemes were dangerously failing. 'Others were with me in this process and we have all the receipts.' Shadow justice secretary Mr Jenrick said he had 'strongly opposed plans the plans to bring over 24,000 Afghan nationals' during 'internal government discussions in the short period before my resignation' in December 2023. 'I first learned of the data leak and plan to resettle people after the superinjunction was in place,' he said. 'Parliamentary privilege is not unlimited; I was bound by the Official Secrets Act.' Mr Jenrick said the secret scheme had been 'a complete disaster' and that the previous government 'made serious mistakes' but that 'thousands more (Afghan people) have come since Labour came to power.' 'Contrary to what some have suggested, the Afghan individuals I helped came on the Arap (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) scheme and had nothing to do with the subsequent ARR scheme caused by the data leak,' he added. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said the 'episode' raises 'significant constitutional issues'. Earlier on Wednesday, Downing Street declined to say what questions former ministers should face but said Sir Keir was 'angry' about the breach. Sir Keir's press secretary said: 'The Prime Minister is angry at such a terrible breach that had such grave consequences being allowed to happen. 'Which is why it's clear that there are questions that need to be answered by Conservative ministers who, in their own words, have talked about the ineptitude of the Conservative government at the time.' She also pointed to comments from Mr Mercer, who described the handling of the breach as 'farcical' and 'the most hapless display of incompetence by successive ministers and officials that I saw in my time in government'. The Commons Defence Committee will be setting out plans for an inquiry straight after the parliamentary recess in September. Chair, @TanDhesi has responded to the Secretary of State's statement on Afghanistan. — Defence Committee (@CommonsDefence) July 16, 2025 Committee chairman Tan Dhesi said: 'These shocking events now deserve proper, thorough parliamentary scrutiny to ensure that lessons are learned. 'I have consulted my cross-party colleagues on the Defence Committee and we all agree that this is work we intend to lead.' Tory former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace said he makes 'no apology' for applying for the initial injunction and insisted it was 'not a cover-up' but was motivated by the need to protect people in Afghanistan whose safety was at risk. A dataset of 18,714 who applied for Arap was released in February 2022 by a defence official who emailed a file outside authorised government systems. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the blunder when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a superinjunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Then defence secretary Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month standard injunction shortly before leaving office but, on September 1 2023, when Grant Shapps took the role, the government was given a superinjunction. Sir Ben said he did now know why the superinjunction was granted 'but nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them', he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He also defended his actions in an article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost about £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of about 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. The key facts on the Afghan Resettlement data incident that took place in 2022, and the action we are taking to support those impacted. Defence Minister @LukePollard explains 👇 — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 16, 2025 The official responsible for the email error was moved to a new role but not sacked. Defence Secretary John Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'. 'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC. The superinjunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Kemi Badenoch has apologised on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak. 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there … and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
Leader Live
an hour ago
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Tory ex-ministers defend record after PM demands ‘answers' over Afghan data leak
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said he first learned of the data breach, which saw a defence official release details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan, after a legal gagging order had been imposed. Ex-veterans minister Johnny Mercer claimed he had 'receipts' regarding the former Conservative administration's actions in relation to Kabul but said it was 'absurd' to accuse him of failing grasp the scale of crisis. 'I know who is covering their tracks, and who has the courage to be honest,' he said. 'I would caution those who might attempt to rewrite history.' Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of an £850 million scheme set up after the leak, which was kept secret as the result of a superinjunction imposed in 2023 which was only lifted on Tuesday. At Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir insisted there would be scrutiny, which the Conservatives should welcome. 'Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen,' he told MPs. Former prime minister Liz Truss, who was foreign secretary at the time of the breach in February 2022, but a backbencher when the superinjunction was sought, said she was 'shocked' by the 'cover-up'. She said the revelations pointed to a 'huge betrayal of public trust' and 'those responsible in both governments and the bureaucracy need to be held to account'. Mr Mercer said: 'I've spilt my own blood fighting for a better Afghanistan, lost friends, fought to get operators out of the country and away from the Taliban, and visited hundreds of resettled families and hotels in the UK under direct commission from the previous prime minister after the schemes were dangerously failing. 'Others were with me in this process and we have all the receipts.' Shadow justice secretary Mr Jenrick said he had 'strongly opposed plans the plans to bring over 24,000 Afghan nationals' during 'internal government discussions in the short period before my resignation' in December 2023. 'I first learned of the data leak and plan to resettle people after the superinjunction was in place,' he said. 'Parliamentary privilege is not unlimited; I was bound by the Official Secrets Act.' Mr Jenrick said the secret scheme had been 'a complete disaster' and that the previous government 'made serious mistakes' but that 'thousands more (Afghan people) have come since Labour came to power.' 'Contrary to what some have suggested, the Afghan individuals I helped came on the Arap (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) scheme and had nothing to do with the subsequent ARR scheme caused by the data leak,' he added. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said the 'episode' raises 'significant constitutional issues'. Earlier on Wednesday, Downing Street declined to say what questions former ministers should face but said Sir Keir was 'angry' about the breach. Sir Keir's press secretary said: 'The Prime Minister is angry at such a terrible breach that had such grave consequences being allowed to happen. 'Which is why it's clear that there are questions that need to be answered by Conservative ministers who, in their own words, have talked about the ineptitude of the Conservative government at the time.' She also pointed to comments from Mr Mercer, who described the handling of the breach as 'farcical' and 'the most hapless display of incompetence by successive ministers and officials that I saw in my time in government'. The Commons Defence Committee will be setting out plans for an inquiry straight after the parliamentary recess in September. Chair, @TanDhesi has responded to the Secretary of State's statement on Afghanistan. — Defence Committee (@CommonsDefence) July 16, 2025 Committee chairman Tan Dhesi said: 'These shocking events now deserve proper, thorough parliamentary scrutiny to ensure that lessons are learned. 'I have consulted my cross-party colleagues on the Defence Committee and we all agree that this is work we intend to lead.' Tory former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace said he makes 'no apology' for applying for the initial injunction and insisted it was 'not a cover-up' but was motivated by the need to protect people in Afghanistan whose safety was at risk. A dataset of 18,714 who applied for Arap was released in February 2022 by a defence official who emailed a file outside authorised government systems. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the blunder when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a superinjunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Then defence secretary Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month standard injunction shortly before leaving office but, on September 1 2023, when Grant Shapps took the role, the government was given a superinjunction. Sir Ben said he did now know why the superinjunction was granted 'but nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them', he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He also defended his actions in an article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost about £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of about 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. The key facts on the Afghan Resettlement data incident that took place in 2022, and the action we are taking to support those impacted. Defence Minister @LukePollard explains 👇 — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 16, 2025 The official responsible for the email error was moved to a new role but not sacked. Defence Secretary John Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'. 'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC. The superinjunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Kemi Badenoch has apologised on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak. 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there … and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
