Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on a secret scheme to relocate Afghan victims of a data leak to the UK, it can be revealed.
Around 19,000 Afghan nationals who helped support British forces had their personal details revealed when a dataset was released ‘in error’ in February 2022.
More than two years later, in April 2024 – three months before the 2024 election – a secret relocation scheme called the Afghanistan Response Route was set up.
It is understood this programme has cost around £400 million so far, and is projected to cost around £850 million once completed.
Additional legal costs and compensation are expected to add millions more to the total bill.
It took more than a year for the Ministry of Defence to become aware of the data breach, which was the result of an apparent mistake by a defence official.
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The extent of the issue was discovered when excerpts from the dataset were posted to a Facebook group in August 2023.
Until today, no details about the relocation scheme were allowed to be reported by the media or revealed in parliament due to a court superinjuction.
Why are we only learning about the ARR now?
Details of the scheme can only be revealed now, after an unprecedented superinjunction was lifted.
The court order prevented the media, Parliament and the public from finding out about the Afghanistan Response Route.
It is thought to be the first time the government has ever used such an order against the media.
Court documents show the Ministry of Defence only initially asked for the superinjunction to stay in place for four months.
But it took more than two years for it to finally be lifted at the High Court today.
Judges said in 2024 that between 80,000 and 100,000 people could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained the data in the breach.
But an independent review commissioned by the government in January this year concluded the data breach was ‘unlikely to profoundly change the existing risk profile of individuals named’.
Defence Secretary John Healey has said he offered a ‘sincere apology’ on behalf of the government.
He told MPs: ‘This serious data incident should never have happened.
‘It may have occurred three years ago under the previous government, but to all those whose information was compromised, I offer a sincere apology today on behalf of the British Government, and I trust the shadow defence secretary, as a former defence minister, will join me.’
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Rafi Hottak, an activist who previously worked as an interpreter for the British army in Afghanistan, told Metro: ‘This data breach is a shocking betrayal by the UK Government.
‘They failed to protect the very people who risked everything to support British missions in Afghanistan. Lives have already been lost, and others remain in grave danger. Accountability and immediate action are urgently needed.’
Erin Alcock, a human rights lawyer at law firm Leigh Day, who has previously assisted hundreds of Arap applicants and family members, said that there had been ‘rumours circulating of an incident of this kind for some time’.
She said: ‘The news today is extremely concerning.
‘We have been aware of rumours circulating of an incident of this kind for some time and have been concerned about any potential risks posed to our clients, particularly those remaining in Afghanistan.
‘Sadly, this incident represents a catastrophic failure by the Government to protect the personal information, and therefore the safety, of what is an extremely vulnerable group of individuals.
‘We will be urgently seeking clarification as to which of our many clients may have been affected and confirmation that all necessary precautions have and will be taken to mitigate any risk of harm to them.’
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