The information watchdog is to investigate Oliver Letwin’s disposal of government documents in park waste bins, Downing Street has announced.
The government policy minister has admitted that he dumped government documents in park bins near Downing Street after being photographed by the Daily Mirror.
He was photographed on five days last month and this month in St James Park, Westminster reading letters and other documents, then disposing of them in waste bins.
The newspaper said Letwin has discarded more than 100 papers including details on terrorism and national security as well as the details of his constituents.
The papers are said to date from July 27 2010 to September 30 2011, and include five Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) letters.
In one, Treasury commitee chair Andrew Tyrie reportedly tells ISC chair Sir Malcolm Rifkind the committee "failed to get to the truth on UK involvement in rendition".
The minister said he "sincerely apologised" and pledged to stop "disposing of copies of documents and constituency correspondence in this way".
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said: "We are aware of the allegations and are making inquiries.
"Keeping personal data secure is a key principle of the Data Protection Act and the ICO takes any breach of that principle very seriously."
A spokeswoman for Number 10 said that the Cabinet Office was "looking into" whether any sensitive material was among the papers dumped in the park bins.
"Our understanding is that there were no classified documents," she said. "Most of the business which Letwin does in the park is constituency-based.
"In the light of what has been reported, the Cabinet Office is looking into it."
Speaking from Leeds, Labour leader Ed Miliband said he thought Letwin had treated important documents with "contempt ".
He said: "If it's true that there were constituents who'd written to him and he was looking at constituency letters and they just ended up in the bin, I don't think it's the right way to act and the right way to treat people and people's concerns.
"I think he'll have learnt his lesson and I hope he does learn his lesson."
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