The inquiries followed Britain’s biggest data loss scandal, when two discs containing child benefit records, including names, addresses and bank details, of some 25 million people, went missing after being put in the post by a junior employee.

The reports concluded that it wasn’t individuals who were to blame - some 30 were officials played some role in events leading to the loss of the discs - but institutional and systematic failures at Britain’s tax authority.

But the HMRC is not alone in such security breaches. A separate report into a stolen laptop containing the details of 600,000 potential recruits revealed similar failings at the Ministry of Defence. In all, four MoD computers had been stolen since 2004 and the report said the MoD was probably in breach of several principles set out in the Data Protection Act.

It concluded that a “serious security event of this nature was inevitable”. It added: “Generally, there is little awareness of the current, real, threat to information, and hence to the Department’s ability to deliver and support operational capability. Consequently, there can be little assurance that information is being effectively protected.”

The reports come days after a computer containing restricted information was stolen from the office of cabinet minister Hazel Blears and the government admitted that senior intelligence official had left a folder with top secret documents on a commuter train.

Unsurprisingly, the Conservatives have seized on the revelations as evidence of incompetence that showed the government could not be trusted with the public’s personal data. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said there had been 12 “major” security breaches since the HMRC scandal.

“With a record like that, how on earth can they even consider proceeding with plans for a compulsory ID card for every citizen of the country,” Osborne told parliament.

Chancellor Alistair Darling and other ministers insist that lessons had been learned. But two further reports on data security for the Cabinet Office said the government had to adapt to a rapidly changing environment where masses of electronic data had to be stored and shared, and more still needed to be done.

“Looking forward, the challenges in this area are going to get harder rather than easier,” one said.

The government say better use of information means better services. But critics say
security breaches are not a price worth paying.

In light of the recent scandals, do you trust the government with your personal details?

Press reports last week suggested Health Secretary Alan Johnson might be in for a promotion. But government sources show no sign that Brown is about to rearrange the decks just yet.

For a start, it’s not really clear a reshuffle now would sort out the government’s problems. Many of the current Cabinet have such little profile that changing their jobs would hardly excite the public imagination.

Also, the big jobs that might cause a stir are really locked down. Brown isn’t about to remove close ally Alistair Darling from the Treasury — it’d be tantamount to admitting the government bore some of the blame for the economy slowing down. The preferred line is to blame the global credit crunch.

Nor does David Miliband look as if he is going anywhere from the Foreign Office. It wouldn’t make political sense to give the young minister often talked about as a future leader of the Labour Party cause for grievance just when the prime minister’s authority is really under scrutiny.

But Brown still really does need what he calls a “diversion” from all the negative press he’s been getting. His popularity has slumped, the economy is slowing down as house prices fall and his backbenchers are no longer afraid of challenging him on the policy front.

So far his answer has been to say people will back him when they see he’s been taking the right long-term decisions. The economy, he says, will be his main focus.

The problem with that is this is exactly how people remembered him when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years. As prime minister, he needs to connect better with voters who are looking for a reason to vote Labour again when the party has already been in office for more than a decade.

Brown doesn’t need to change his Cabinet now, he needs to change the way he communicates.