Nicola Sturgeon gave a clear commitment two years ago to forward all government WhatsApp messages and Covid communications to any subsequent public inquiries into how the pandemic was handled.
However, it is understood WhatsApp messages sent by the former first minister, who led the Scottish government response to the pandemic, were manually deleted from her phone.
It follows revelations that the messages of 70 Scottish government figures — including the national clinical director Jason Leitch — were also not retained.
Relatives of people who died during the pandemic, which started in 2020, have demanded an inquiry into when and why the messages were deleted.
The messages cannot now be given to the UK or Scottish Covid inquiries into how pandemic decisions were made.
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Sturgeon gave assurances in May 2020 that a public inquiry would be held and the Scottish version was announced the following year.
At the subsequent news conference in August 2021 Ciaran Jenkins, the Channel 4 reporter, asked: “Can you guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, WhatsApps, private emails if you’ve been using them. Whatever? That nothing will be off limits in this inquiry?”
Sturgeon replied: “If you understand statutory public inquiries you would know that even if I wasn’t prepared to give that assurance, which for the avoidance of doubt I am, then I wouldn’t have the ability. This will be a judge-led statutory inquiry.”
WhatsApp groups have become a favoured communication tool of politicians and civil servants because of their speed, although there is no official requirement for them to be kept. Once deleted, they are no longer retrievable, unlike emails.
The fact that Scottish government WhatsApp messages were missing emerged during hearings of the UK Covid inquiry last week, where documents showed online data from Sturgeon’s replacement, Humza Yousaf, her health minister from May 2021, and John Swinney, the former deputy first minister, no longer exist.
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It emerged there were at least 137 WhatsApp groups being used across the Scottish government and its agencies during Covid.
The UK inquiry was told by a lawyer that 70 individuals were asked for their WhatsApp messages but “very few appear to have been retained”. The Times reported on Thursday that Leitch deleted messages every day during the pandemic.
Only Jeanne Freeman, the SNP health secretary until May 2021, is believed to have given messages to the inquiry but they are not complete.
Aamer Anwar, the lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved families group, told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show that the Scottish government had not given details of when messages were deleted.
Anwar said: “From May 2020, if there was a position of auto-delete, if there was a situation where government ministers and senior civil servants were deleting their WhatsApps, it should have been ordered to stop.
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“We want to know when was the deletion brought in, who ordered it, why was it not ordered to be stopped? And did they continue after the event? Because that’s deletion of material.”
Alex Neil, a former SNP cabinet minister, said the rules around WhatsApp use and deletion needed to be clarified. “There should have been a directive on keeping these messages so that they could be properly recorded for any inquiry,” he said.
“WhatsApp has been around since 2009. It’s not new so there should be clear rules around this.”
The Scottish government said it was committed to co-operating with the UK and Scottish inquiries and providing any requested material.
A spokesman for Sturgeon said she would continue to provide all information requested by the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries: “She has recently submitted her third written statement to the UK inquiry — running to around 200 pages — and expects to give oral evidence again next year when she will answer all questions put to her.”
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Sturgeon has previously been criticised for using handwritten notes or phone calls to conduct official business.
In 2019 it was revealed that she shunned emails and text messages or used an SNP email account which was not subject to freedom of information laws, unlike government accounts.
A Scottish government spokesman said: “As the first minister has made clear, the Scottish government is wholly committed to co-operating fully with the Covid-19 inquiries. This includes providing any requested material that we hold.
“More than 13,000 documents from the official record have been sent to the UK inquiry from the Scottish government, in addition to the corporate and personal statements requested. Providing the formal decision-making record has been our priority.
“The UK inquiry has subsequently asked for WhatsApp messages relating to logistics and day-to-day communication, which we are working to provide.
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“Given the interest in this specific request from the UK Covid-19 inquiry, subject to approval from the Parliamentary Bureau, the deputy first minister will seek to make a statement to parliament on the issue early next week.”
Slater: I don’t have a work mobile phone
Lorna Slater does not have a government phone and does not use WhatsApp for official business, she told The Sunday Show. “The Scottish government is absolutely committed to supporting the Covid inquiries and being transparent,” the Green minister said.
After the furore over deletion of WhatsApp messages, she insisted on BBC Scotland that she does not use WhatsApp for government business and that “government work is only done on government devices”.
Slater also said: “I don’t have a government phone,” adding that “my phone is for my personal use”. Asked if ministers had been told to delete WhatsApp messages, she said: “There has been no advice on that because it is not used for government business.”
Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative chairman, said: “Slater’s claim ... doesn’t offer any reassurance that she’s complying with government rules. If anything, it makes it less clear how her dealings can be accountable.”
