Many thanks for the follow-up to my previous answer – it is always good to hear how the situations unfold.

The taking of fingerprints is normal practice in some industries and organisations, but this would depend on very specific requirements. This was/is done to check whether the employee might have a criminal record.

I am presuming (or, should I say, I hope) that there was some mention of a security vetting process in the original advert for this position. If not, this could be deemed to be a process which infringes on the rights of a potential employee, although the counter-argument to this is that if an employee has nothing to hide, there should be no problem. The manner in which this process is carried out must also meet very strict requirements which ensure confidentiality and privacy.

Having got this far in the process, I trust that your application will ultimately be successful – good luck!