SC - Security Clearance questioni

[pabby]

Hi All,

I'd like to ask my question hypothetically.

If a person got a role that required Security Clearance UK, the questionnaire asks about family members. If one of the applicants family member had debt and moved house without telling a credit card company so that it was unpaid. What effects would/could that have on the applicant. Moreover, is the information collected by FCO passed to thrid party organisation (i.e. the credit card company).

I understand of the morality of not paying back money to credit card companies so I'd like these questions to focus on the ramifications of what the FCO do with this information.

Any thoughts and advice is much appreciated.

[smatty]

Depends what family member, IIRC the form only asks about finances of you and your partner.

I don't know but it seems unlikely they'd pass it on, CC debt is a civil matter. The SC form is RESTRICTED once it's been filled out so the individual disclosing parts of it to a 3rd party could end up in all kinds of trouble. Possibly also data protection issues.

That said, I would think twice about applying if you would not be willing to disclose this issue in detail. If they query it and you're not completely forthcoming then may never be able to get cleared.

[DaveB]

The point about vetting is to make sure you have nothing to hide that could be used against you. They will run credit checks etc against you and your immediate family as part of the process anyway, so anything you don't tell them will be flagged and you will be rejected for clearance.

Once they have the info it won't go any further as it becomes officially protected information at restricted level. Anything carrying this marking is only available to government organisations or specific commercial contractors (the big name guys on List X) with appropriate clearance and only for use in connection with government projects where it is relevant. In practice it will never see the light of day again unless you need to renew your clearance or you go on for DV at some point.

It's not automatically the FCO that get it anyway, unless your application is going specifically through them. All the major departments have their own vetting officers who deal with clearance applications. Hence the occasional confusion over transfers and who holds a particular individuals clearance at any point.

[herman_g]

Unless the procedure has changed since 2007, they don't care about what any of your relatives have been involved in.

My youngest brother has never had a real job - only ever involved in grey area ( pirate US satellite cards sold in Canada ) and downright illegal businesses ( growing cannabis ).

He's been arrested, charged, jailed, sued by major corporations - you name it - pretty frequently over a 20 year period. There was even a loaded sawed off shotgun found in his vehicle one of the times he was arrested.

I got my SC clearance with no issues.

[adubya]

Just answer the questions asked of you truthfully.

[pabby]

Thanks folks. Good advice and knowledge