Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is facing a Commons summons to explain the latest Government security lapse after another batch of secret papers were left on a train.

The documents, covering global terrorist funding, drugs trafficking and money laundering, were handed in to The Independent on Sunday after being found last Wednesday on a train which was heading for London’s Waterloo Station.

Their discovery coincided with a similar incident when secret Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) assessments on Iraq and al Qaeda were passed to the BBC after they also were left on a train.

Although neither incident involved the Home Office, Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said they would be calling Redditch MP Ms Smith to explain the implications of the losses for the fight against terrorism.

“Only on Thursday the Government told Parliament that it had established an inquiry into the confidential documents left by an official on a train and handed to the BBC. This latest revelation gives us serious cause for concern,” he said.

“We need an explanation from the Home Secretary whether all these breaches of security affect our fight against terrorism.

“Until the inquiry has been concluded and we are told how these extraordinary events occurred, no official no matter how senior, should be allowed to take classified or confidential documents outside their offices for whatever reason.”

The papers were handed to The Independent on Sunday, which said that they covered the UK’s policies on fighting global terrorist funding, drugs trafficking and money laundering.

They were said to include details of how trade and banking systems could be manipulated to finance illicit weapons of mass destruction in Iran.

They also discussed methods of terrorist funding and the potential fraud of commercial websites and international internet payment systems.

The confidential files – which were discovered on a train bound for London’s Waterloo Station on Wednesday – related to a week-long conference of the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

They include speaking notes for a senior official at a reception to be held at 11 Downing Street, Chancellor Alistair Darling’s official residence. The papers were found on the same day that a top secret assessments by the Joint Intelligence Committee covering Iraq and al Qaida were handed to the BBC having also been left on a train.

Shadow security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said the Government must “get a grip” on the issue of data protection.

“This is another incidence of the failure of the Government to safeguard sensitive information and yet another example of a lapse in discipline,” she said.

A Treasury spokesman said: “We are extremely concerned about what has happened and we will be taking steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the future.”

Labour’s Chief Whip Geoff Hoon said the Government would take the loss of the documents “extraordinarily seriously” and Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that the loss of the documents was “completely inexcusable”.

“The Government takes all reports of security breaches extremely seriously. These sorts of lapses are completely inexcusable,” he told the BBC.
A Treasury spokesman said: “We are extremely concerned about what has happened and we will be taking steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the future.”

The Treasury refused to say whether the individual responsible had been identified.

The Cabinet Office said that the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell was writing to all permanent secretaries across Whitehall to remind them of the importance of ensuring that officials were aware of the need to handle information with care.

For the Tories, shadow security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said the Government must “get a grip” on the issue of data protection.

“This is another incidence of the failure of the Government to safeguard sensitive information and yet another example of a lapse in discipline,” she said.

“In this case had the content been released the potential consequences could have included prejudicing the UK’s position in international meetings – the Government cannot allow this to continue.”

The latest loss of the documents is another embarrassment for the Government which has been hit by a series of data losses.

In the most high-profile case, two computer discs containing HM Revenue and Customs’ entire child benefit database – with personal details of more than 25 million people – disappeared in an internal mail system and were never found.

After the loss of the JIC documents, an official in the Cabinet Office was suspended and a police inquiry launched.