The confidential health records of half a million British volunteers have been offered for sale on Chinese website Alibaba , the UK government has confirmed. The “de-identified” data, belonging to participants in the UK Biobank project, was found for sale on three separate listings last week. Ian Murray, the technology minister, told the Commons on Thursday that, after working with the Chinese government and Alibaba, the records had now been removed. It is not believed any sales were made. The latest breach comes after the Guardian revealed last month that sensitive UK Biobank data has been exposed online dozens of times , raising further questions about whether security has been too lax. “On Monday 20 April, the UK Biobank charity informed the government that it had identified their data had been advertised for sale by several sellers on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms in China ,” Murray said. “Biobank told us that three listings that appear to sell … Biobank participation data had been identified.…