Nicola Sturgeon and her deputy have deleted all their pandemic WhatsApp messages, the Covid inquiry has heard.
At a hearing in Edinburgh on Friday, the inquiry was told that Ms Sturgeon, the former first minister, had “not saved any message” about the pandemic, while John Swinney, her deputy, used an “automatic delete function”.
Ms Sturgeon had repeatedly refused to say whether she had deleted her WhatsApp messages after the inquiry complained that key decision makers had failed to hand over the information.
However, during evidence from Lesley Fraser, the director general of the Scottish Government, Jamie Dawson KC, lead adviser for the inquiry module on Scotland, it emerged that all of Ms Sturgeon’s messages had been deleted.
Referring to a chart of which messages could be handed over to the investigation, he said: “Under the ‘Nicola Sturgeon’ box it says messages were not kept but deleted when doing a routine inbox clearing or phone change, not in able to retrieve messages.
“What that seems to suggest is that at the time the request was made, Nicola Sturgeon, the former First Minister of Scotland, had not retained any messages relating to her management of the pandemic.”
Ms Fraser replied: “That’s what that indicates to me.”
Mr Dawson continued: “When we asked the government whether it had kept such communications in its corporate file, you gave us no answer.”
Ms Fraser replied: “Correct.”
Asked whether this meant the inquiry did not have access to Ms Sturgeon’s communications in relation to her handling of the pandemic, Ms Fraser said the former first minister would have reported anything of significance to her cabinet.
She said: “Mrs Sturgeon would have worked with her cabinet to ensure her views and instructions were clearly understood and they may have been informed by some of the conversations she had with her chief of staff or with other ministers, but she would have passed that on to her cabinet and that would be the instruction that came from the cabinet and it would be retained.”
When asked if she “knew this had happened,” she said: “That’s how government works, it’s a necessity.”
Pressed about how the government could have known the discussions were being added to the official record if neither the government nor Ms Sturgeon had access to the messages, she said: “I can’t know because I haven’t seen all the information. ”
The investigation showed a document detailing how WhatsApp was used during the pandemic and what messages were kept.
It revealed that Ms Sturgeon had admitted using WhatsApp to exchange information and views with colleagues, but claimed that “anything of significance that requires action” would be raised at formal meetings.
Ms Sturgeon occasionally used WhatsApp with Mr Swinney as well as Humza Yousaf, the current First Minister, and Liz Lloyd, her most senior adviser.
The document added: “Messages were not retained, they were deleted during routine inbox clearing or phone changes, all substantive issues were captured in Private Office emails. Automatic deletion was not active. Unable to retrieve messages. Nothing to return.”
According to the same scheme, no documents were retained by Mr Swinney, despite communications with Ms Sturgeon, Jeanne Freeman, the then Health Secretary, and Mr Yousaf “for the purpose of providing urgent information and preparing for formal meetings”.
“Messages would have been deleted by automatic deletion functions or by manually deleting them as they regularly do,” the document said.
The inquiry made repeated requests to the Scottish Government
The revelation came during evidence at the inquiry from Lesley Fraser, director general of the Scottish Government, who was responsible for managing documents.
She said Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf, Ms Sturgeon’s successor, had repeatedly committed to the principles of “openness and transparency and full co-operation in both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 investigations”.
Ms Fraser also agreed with Mr Dawson KC, lead lawyer for the Scotland inquiry module, that this represented a “bond of fairness with the Scottish people”.
He said the inquiry had been forced to make repeated requests to the Scottish Government for its data management policy, with some information only provided in the “last few days”.
Ms Fraser said the “foundational document” was the records management policy and a “supplement” was prepared in November 2021 explaining in more detail how mobile phone messages should be handled.
But Mr Dawson argued that the difficulty the Scottish Government had had in localizing the policy “tends to suggest that retention is not working very well”.
Ms Fraser said: “Ministers should have seen the mobile messaging policy – it is not a secret policy.
“It is written from the perspective of civil servants, because civil servants are the ones with the responsibility, but the good practice guidance would apply equally to ministers.”
She said ministers would also have been “aware of the need to talk to their cabinet” about what was required of them to meet the November top-up.
But the document management policy states that information should only be retained for as long as it is necessary to support the Scottish Government in its business requirements and legal obligations. This gives ministers the latitude to decide what should be retained and what should be removed.
Research chair frustrated
A frustrated Baroness Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, interrupted Ms Fraser to say she was “not following” and asking what should be done “in no uncertain terms” about WhatsApp messages between two ministers.
She questioned whether ministers should act in accordance with the policy “which appears to be to remove them if they are not needed” or “tell civil servants or Cabinet about it”.
Ms Fraser said they would inform their cabinets to take action “following the conversation we had”.
But Lady Hallett responded that that process “may not capture the rationale” for the decision and disputed Ms Fraser’s view that she agreed that “this is one of the things that needs to be captured”.
“In other words, things could be lost if ministers delete their WhatsApp messages without telling their cabinet everything that was discussed,” Lady Hallett said.
She said she “didn’t think the rules or principles were clear” and questioned whether they conflicted with the requirement to retain such messages for freedom of information requests.
Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly refused to reveal whether she deleted messages and the investigation has been able to trace only a small number of her messages through colleagues’ phones or data.
According to a submission from the Scottish Trades Union Congress, a WhatsApp conversation between Ms Sturgeon and her chief adviser, Ms Lloyd, showed the former First Minister criticizing the UK Government over changes to the furlough scheme.
“It really is a shower,” Ms Sturgeon wrote on October 31, 2020.
“[Person A] Yesterday, a catering company fired all its employees and liquidated the company due to a reduction in leave. He says today’s announcement may have changed that, but it is too late.”
Ms Lloyd added: “Yes, one of my friends lost her job yesterday and another made half of her colleagues redundant. No idea.”
A spokesperson for Ms Sturgeon said yesterday: “In the interests of everyone affected by the Covid pandemic, Nicola is committed to full transparency in both the UK and Scottish Covid investigations.
“Any communications she had she addressed and dealt with in accordance with Scottish Government policy. Nicola has submitted a number of written statements to the UK inquiry – hundreds of pages in total – and welcomes the opportunity to give oral evidence to the inquiry again this month, when she will answer all questions put to her.”
The SNP has been contacted for comment.