The Scottish Government is to share more than 14,000 messages with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry – with First Minister Humza Yousaf to hand over unredacted WhatsApp messages, MSPs have been told.
In a statement at Holyrood, Scottish Deputy First Minister Shona Robison confirmed the Scottish Government had received a legal notice permitting it to hand over the messages on Monday.
Messages, including those from Scottish Government ministers and former ministers, are included in that, Ms Robison said.
The First Minister, when submitting a statement to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry in the coming days, will “hand over WhatsApp messages unredacted to the inquiry”, she added.
The Deputy First Minister said a legal order, known as a Section 21 notice, had been required before the messages could be handed over because “a number of them were of a particularly personal nature, including photos of individuals’ children and personal medical details”.
With the order now received, Ms Robison told MSPs at Holyrood that work was “well under way” to ensure the messages would be handed over by the deadline set by the inquiry.
The Deputy First Minister added: “This will mean that all requested messages held will be shared, in full and unredacted, by November 6.”
She said the Scottish Government would “share over 14,000 mainly WhatsApp messages from various groups and individuals over the period of the pandemic”.
The Deputy First Minister added: “In instances where it appears as though messages may not be available, including through deletion in line with civil service policies on data management and retention, advice has been sought as to whether device owners or a third party are able to recover material.”
Ms Robison was giving a statement to MSPs at Holyrood after counsel to the inquiry Jamie Dawson KC revealed last week that “no messages” from within the Scottish Government had been provided.
There then followed press reports that former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch and chief medical officer Dr Sir Gregor Smith, had deleted their messages.
A spokeswoman for the former first minister said Ms Sturgeon would fully co-operate with the inquiries and she had just submitted her third written statement, which ran to about 200 pages.
Margaret Waterton, of the Scottish Covid Bereaved Group, claimed it was “shameful” the Scottish Government had not yet provided the information.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday, Ms Waterton, who lost her mother and husband to the illness, said: “The situation this week with Scottish Government not having brought forward the information that it was requested to provide to the inquiry some considerable time ago, I think, frankly, is shameful.”
