Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 10
1st Report - Shifting heaven and earth? The Afghan data breach and resettlement schemes
Published 30 Jul 2026
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee Afghan Data Breach and Resettlement Schemes All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The response to the breach exposed a serious weakness in cross- government governance. Once relocation became the principal means of mitigation, the MOD carried the strongest responsibility and incentive to act, but many of the levers needed to deliver the response— accommodation, immigration processing, local authority capacity, funding and integration support—sat elsewhere. Under conditions of secrecy, that mismatch was harder to challenge externally. The financial consequences of the breach were shaped not only by the original loss of data, but by policy choices made under the injunction about cohort size, accommodation, pace of implementation and delivery model. Decisions about risk became decisions about housing, local capacity, departmental budgets and long-term support. The result was an incremental response whose pace, scope and cost were shaped by misaligned responsibilities, cross- government constraints and limited democratic, audit or public scrutiny. (Conclusion, Paragraph 131)
From: Defence Committee, 1st Report - Shifting heaven and earth? The Afghan data breach and resettlement schemes (HC 69), 30 July 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 October 2026 (deadline 30 September 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Ministry of Defence says the data incident was "unacceptable", accepts a number of the Committee's conclusions and some recommendations in whole or in part, and declines others, citing risk to life and national security.
- On the injunction, the government agrees the super-injunction was exceptional and accepts Recommendation 8 "in principle", but says any decision to widen briefing would be "for the government of the day".
- It "accepts part of" the recommendation to publish principles on injunctions, saying any course of action "remains a decision for Ministers" and is to be considered case by case.
- It will provide the Committee with "six-monthly updates" on the Afghan Resettlement Programme and expects to complete all ARP casework by Spring 2027, though the August 2026 milestone for initial decisions was missed.
- It declines to publish quality assurance KPIs, saying they "could have unintended consequences", and says exceptional circumstances will be considered for those unable to self-move within 12 months.