THE police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Gwent will be seeking answers from Gwent Police’s chief constable over a possible data breach.

The force has been contacted by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) regarding a data system, used by Gwent Police, and the possibility that information enclosed could have been accessed by hackers.

Jeff Cuthbert, the PCC for Gwent, confirmed that in his role of “monitoring and scrutinising the performance of Gwent Police”, he will be requesting a “full and comprehensive report” from chief constable Julian Williams about the force’s data protection measures.

He said: “I am responsible for monitoring and scrutinising the performance of Gwent Police.

“I will be asking the chief constable for a full and comprehensive report on data breaches and the process in place for identifying and acting upon them.

“Moving forward, I will seek reassurance that the protection of personal data of the public we serve is of paramount importance and that any lessons learnt from previous breaches are implemented with immediate effect.”

A spokesman for Gwent Police said: “Gwent Police has recently contacted the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and confirmed that formal notification will be provided for consideration in relation to this matter.

“Data integrity is of paramount important to Gwent Police and we continually review our governance procedures to minimise the risk of data breaches."

A spokeswoman for the ICO said: “We’ve been made aware of an incident involving Gwent Police and will be making inquiries.”