FiL wants all our data

[HighlandCowSaysBooNotMoo]

My father in law works in a government role.
Today he put a message in the family WhatsApp group asking if we could send him our addresses, d.o.bs, mothers maiden names, our place of birth, our address history, previous maiden names etc.
Apparently he needs this info from his 4 adult children, their spouses (me included) , his own siblings and his siblings spouses, grandchildren, his in laws etc. Basically he is covering every member of the family and spouses etc over the age of 18.
He has put something light hearted about it being needed for an enhanced security check that he's been told he needs for his job.
He is not changing jobs or position in the company. He has been in this job for since my husband was a wee kid!!
A couple of people have responded straight away with their data.
DH says IABU not to share mine with his dad
What do I do?

No, they wouldn’t. When you’re applying for a security clearance, you provide this information.

The vetting team (who aren’t his employers by the way - they’re a completely separate group of people) will verify that info, and then use it to conduct financial/criminal record checks etc to see if there’s anything in your past that they need to worry about. If, for example, you happen to have links to organised crime, they won’t want your father in law to have access to top secret information!

What kind of man is he? Is he the sort you would normally trust?

I had a government job at one time . There were security checks on my family members too

Sticking a request for other people's very personal data that pertains to highly sensitive security vetting on the family Whats App is not only rude but a bit dim. But I'm old fashioned like that.

I've been on both sides of this, it sounds exactly as my experiences - employees are expected to get this info from their family members. I knew my family's info mostly so for a lot of them I just told them that I was providing the info for an enhanced security check. For others I asked for the info I didn't know and explained it was for enhanced security checks.

Is it possible he doesnt actually need it for work and trying to do a family tree? Some kind of weird supprise for Christmas?

What happens if you can't give that info though? My ex husband would never let me have his address I haven't even seen him for 7 months

Police officers have this level of checks on family. Even private sector workers who work on government projects have to undergo these sorts of checks.

Also the passport office and DVLA will hold most people‘s names, maiden names, addresses. HMRC will hold this and also details of income, asset sales etc. There is not one database but different government departments absolutely have access across databases and share information.

He's being lazy.

My DP's got relatives like this. Full of themselves but someone else has to fill in the forms for them because they're soooo busy.

When you say 'no, you can do that bit, you know all the information already, I'm busy too,' they go nuts.

Your birth certificate for a start.

I recently had to do a similar security clearance check. The checks expire after 10 years.

The post I was responding to suggested that the FIL should be able to find out this information for himself because he works for ‘the government.’ I was pointing out that this wasn’t accurate.

It must be a PITA to do these, but quite reassuring for us not involved with secret things.

This did cross my mind but why would he need all the partners info unless he is double bluffing

@Harella - ah sorry I missed that.

I had to do similar recently for a relative. This time, he sent me a list of the answers he'd already filled in and asked me to confirm it was OK. The first time he did it, it was over a decade ago when my life was more transient, I'd lived outside the U.K. twice in the previous 5yrs etc so he sent me the questions and asked me to complete it.
My relative started just under 6 months ago. One of his colleagues who was offered the job on the same day hasn't actually started yet as the colleague is from a big family and several members live overseas. It can take a while to get it all sorted.

How do people like Boris Johnson pass security checks. He doesn't seemed to know how many children he has, nevermind where they are or who they mix with and as to some of his friends....

Also, in every department which has databases of people’s personal information, looking up your friends and family is completely against the rules and will get you fired instantly. This is drilled into you from Day 1!

So FIL absolutely cannot ‘get this information himself’, even if he happens to work at a department which keeps this info (which he probably doesn’t).

No. I had to go through security vetting, and had to provide all this information.

For starters, how do they get that information from you without him giving them most of it in the first place? They can't read his mind about who's in his family and where they live.
Also this way he's responsible for providing what they need (so is legally responsible for the truth and validity of it) and it's all on one form, rather than being found ad hoc by different people, which would add massively to the time it takes to assess him. Even with me providing all the data, it took over six months for my clearance to come through.

Get a grip 🙄🙄🙄

I was responding to the point about general government databases. Your post wasn’t clear that you meant the FIL looking it up himself.

Providing the information to FIL feels weird. If this is what enhanced vetting involves, it's stupid, as you shouldn't be handing over this data to a random relative at their say-so using a method that isn't secure. It's just training people to respond favourably to text scams.

I'm used to providing my address history etc for my own enhanced DBS checks (nothing at this level) but the idea of giving someone my mother's maiden name feels really off. I think it's partially because it's a standard security question, but also because it's not 'my' information as such. It's my mum's.

I'm not saying FIL doesn't need to ask any of these questions, but I do think the Government is daft for setting things up this way!

Thank you for explaining

Very trust worthy and I adore him.
His new partner however we don't at all.

This is what I thought.