Thanks to Dottie for this:

From the FT today:

UK immigration lawyers say that they regularly receive confidential medical information meant for individuals whose work visa applications they handled, in an apparent breach of privacy rules that stretches back years.  The lawyers have received emails and text messages ranging from notifications of hospital appointments to messages about vaccinations and diagnostic tests, they said. In one recent case, cancer test results were shared. The lawyers suggest that this is occurring because the people in question have given their details to UK Visas & Immigration, part of the Home Office, as the point of contact for queries on a visa application. These details may then have been shared with other public sector bodies or recorded in a central database.  “Our email addresses are clearly flowing around the system . . . That shouldn’t be the case. It needs to be resolved,” said Nicolas Rollason, head of immigration at law firm Kingsley Napley.¹

As of now (09.33am), no other major UK mainstream media outlets appear to be covering the FT story.

There is no comparable evidence of important personal data leaked ‘regularly’ to lawyers, by SCottish Government departments or by the NHS in Scotland.

Imagine the media coverage here, if there were.

Sources:

1. https://www.ft.com/content/420a9af4-5211-4451-8aa7-fd7a108d83fc?accessToken=zwAAAZ9fyE19kc9CCpr0UhFEUdOKp_16EI2D_A.MEYCIQCeHPKIHjXr7evtbaZsOPlyAowdO1MQf9Q-lMz1b1wlcAIhAKeLD6go7YE7GmvgmvrB-EFs_Zjicvz_a8EIYFuX7Smz&sharetype=gift&token=f6c204b7-8f83-4da8-b634-4ae769c49667&syn-25a6b1a6=1