SCOTLAND’S clinical director deleted electronic messages he sent during the pandemic, according to reports.
Professor Jason Leitch’s WhatsApp messages cannot be handed over to official inquiries because he deleted them every day, The Times reports.
This means there were none left to preserve when a do not destroy notice was issued by the UK Covid-19 inquiry.
It comes as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s legal team has said it believes the “majority” of WhatsApp messages shared among Scottish Government officials during the pandemic “have not been retained”.
On Leitch, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As the first minister has said, anyone - ministers or civil servants, including clinicians - are committed to co-operating fully with the Covid-19 inquiries. This includes providing any requested material in their possession.”
As part of the UK inquiry, key decision makers in Scotland – including ministers, former ministers and senior civil servants – have been asked to disclose communications, including those through informal channels such as Meta-owned WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams or Signal.
First Minister Humza Yousaf ordered an investigation by Scotland’s Solicitor General after Jamie Dawson KC – the lead counsel in the Scotland module of the inquiry – told the hearing on Thursday that the Scottish Government has not yet handed over messages.
A note to the inquiry from Dawson and its legal team - published on Thursday evening - said it understands the majority of messages may have been deleted.
In Westminster, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the inquiry that he cannot provide relevant WhatsApp messages from his time as chancellor during the pandemic as he failed to back them up.
The Tory PM claimed he does not have access to the messages after changing his phone several times.
However, it was recently revealed that the number he used while chancellor is still in action, after pranksters shared a video clip of it ringing.
In Holyrood on Thursday, Yousaf rejected claims from Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross that the Scottish Government was being “secretive” in refusing to hand over the messages.
But just hours later, the note to the UK Covid inquiry said: “Given the potential significance of any such material, and in order to provide a clearer statement of the position, the Scottish Government has been asked to provide a full update on its position and that of all relevant Scottish Government witnesses as regards to their use of WhatsApps and their current availability for disclosure.
“It is currently understood that although WhatsApps appear to have been used to send messages relating to and surrounding key decisions by some members of Scottish Government, the majority of the messages have not been retained by witnesses.”
In her closing remarks at Thursday’s hearing, inquiry chair Lady Hallett said: “It will not surprise anyone to learn that I am very concerned about the difficulties that the Module 2A team have encountered in obtaining the material they need to ensure a thorough and rigorous analysis of key decision-making in Scotland during the worst stages of the pandemic.”
The Scottish Government requested in a filing on Thursday that the inquiry serves a Section 21 notice to allow certain WhatsApp messages to be disclosed.
Officials insisted they needed a “legal basis” to release some of the messages, after the inquiry widened the scope of what was being requested.
The submission also “respectfully disagreed” with the assertion that the Scottish Government’s position on WhatsApp is “incomplete”.
It also clarified the Government’s process for informal messages, saying: “Relevant information from any such exchanges would be recorded (for example, in meeting notes or in email exchanges) and then saved in the Scottish Government’s electronic records and document management system.
“This necessarily requires an exercise of individual judgment as to what should be retained as part of the document management system.
“These principles applied before and during the pandemic, and continue to apply.”
