To answer that question: " What about departments of the government?"
That's what these fines are for you see, if you leak that the government bungled yet again you invaded their privacy and get fined :)
You don't think they'd pass a law FOR the people do you? In 2008 - anywhere.

Shadders is right, but he understates the case. As far as I am aware, the vast majority of personal data leakage comes from the government. Even if there are leaks from private enterprise, they tend to be far smaller. Who but HMRC, for example, would even have zapiskas on 26 million of us wretched serfs? This reminds me of the old story of the drunk searching for his keys under a streetlamp. When a policeman comes to help him, he asks, "Is this where you dropped your keys, sir?" "Oh no," replies the drunk, "It was over there! But there's more light here..." The government is never going to regulate itself, so it makes great play of regulating the private sector - which is not where the problem is.

What about departments of the government?

It seems to me that a fair portion of data loss comes from agencies in the government as well. It would be pointless fining them, as it would just mean a transfer of taxpayer money from one place to the other.

Far better, they recommend who should be fired for incompetence.

Oh wait; I am of course assuming that government departments are held as responsible as private companies for data loss, which would be fair right? But when has anything in politics been fair?

And all this from a country that has cameras everywhere you look? Wow.