The real data losers

There's been another loss of personal data in the public sector, this time by the Scottish Ambulance Service. The politics of this are entirely predicable: the opposition parties will express outrage, blame the government and, if they are having a good day, call for a minister or two to resign. We've seen this happen fairly often recently.

Now I understand the idea of ministerial responsibility but it is absurd to hold a minister responsible for a practical error by an official. Hold them accountable for policy, but for the minutiae of implementation? Be fair.

I've worked in the Civil Service and the problem is not ministerial control but the quality of leadership and management by senior officials. It is, with some honourable exceptions, dreadful. These kind of things will continue to happen until public sector management is dragged up to acceptable professional standards .

So perhaps opposition politicians should stop their histrionics and start thinking about how they can hold senior officials accountable for their managerial failings.