THE Government's Information Commissioner is to investigate a blunder by the district council which led to confidential information about five men being published on its website.

Epping Forest District Council has apologised after names, addresses, national insurance numbers, criminal convictions, photographs, phone numbers and driving licence information of men applying for taxi licences was made publicly available after a “computer error”.

The authority has confirmed it has referred the incident to the Government, and has also launched its own inquiry into what happened.

Ian Willett, the council's assistant to the chief executive, said the computer system responsible was supplied by an unnamed private company.

He said: "I am very sorry for this mistake. As well as offering my apologies to each of the applicants concerned, I have also informed the Information Commissioner of the details and the steps we are taking to try to ensure this cannot happen again.

“The commissioner is completely independent of the council. He holds a range of powers to investigate and hold councils to account."

He added: “We use a publishing system supplied by a private company. Our philosophy whenever possible is to make reports and information freely available to the public.

“We will now have to review the electronic publication system to ensure there are adequate checks to prevent a recurrence of this mistake. We will also look at the rest of our procedures to see if any further improvements are possible."

The mistake was discovered by the Guardian last Wednesday, but the council failed to inform those affected until the next day.

The authority originally said the information had been online for two days, but now says it was only available for 24 hours.

The Information Commissioner's Office previously told the Guardian the released information had the potential to put the men affected at risk of identity fraud.