Census chief forced to quit over leaked details

The director of last year's census was forced to resign after he broke a 200-year-old legal guarantee that all data would be kept confidential, it was revealed yesterday.

Graham Jones stepped down from the 2001 census after he allowed details of two people linked to an investigation into an alleged miscarriage of justice to be released.

The information, which came from the 1961 census, was requested by the Criminal Cases Review Commission under legislation giving the body the right to access any government records concerning the subject of an inquiry.

It is thought to have included details such as place of residence and marital status.

But Len Cook, the registrar general and the official in charge of the census, said neither of the two people were the subjects of a review and no personal details could be released. Under legislation governing the census, all personal information must be kept confidential for 100 years before it can be released to the public, the Commons Public Accounts Committee was told.

Mr Jones was suspended from his civil service role in February and allowed to resign in April without facing a disciplinary charge. Mr Cook told MPs: "The critical thing is that he did not make it known to me what he had done on a matter of some consequence."

In an earlier breach, Mr Jones agreed a £500,000 contract with a company run by a former Whitehall colleague to consult on the 2001 census.