On Monday 20 November, Stratford-on-Avon District Council became aware of a data breach.
Initial investigations suggests that the data breach is restricted to a database of email addresses which had been supplied to the Council by residents; the District Council does not believe at this stage that any further personal data is affected.
The District Council has referred this matter immediately to the Information Commissioner's Office.
It is believed that this data breach is an isolated incident and does not reflect a general failure of internal controls.
The District Council has instigated a full internal investigation to determine exactly what has happened and to identify the scope of the data breach.
The District Council is also liaising with other agencies including Warwickshire Police.
David Buckland, Chief Executive of Stratford on Avon District Council says: "The privacy and security of personal information is paramount, and we are extremely concerned that such a data breach has occurred.
"We take these matters very seriously and immediately commissioned an internal investigation to understand how this happened. We sincerely apologise to those who may have been affected by this data breach on behalf of the Council.
"We have self-reported this as a data breach to the Information Commissioner's Office and will cooperate fully with them and or any other agency as maybe required."
So as not to interfere with the ongoing investigations, the District Council will not be making any further comment at this time.
