A leading lawyer representing families of people who died during the Covid pandemic says answers are needed on why messages were deleted by senior government figures and advisers.
Aamer Anwar, lead solicitor of Scottish Covid Bereaved, said it is inconceivable that those tasked with managing the crisis failed to retain communications – particularly after it became clear as early as 2021 that an inquiry was to be held.
He wants to know whether an order was made from the top to delete chats on private messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram, who made it, when, and why it was not abandoned for the sake of the looming investigation.
It comes following reports that national clinical director Jason Leitch deleted messages during the pandemic.
Mr Anwar said he met with government officials, including former Deputy First Minister John Swinney, as early as August 2021 to stress the importance of retaining the information.
The UK Government was unsuccessful in a court bid to block the disclosure of various communications between Boris Johnson and others to the UK Covid inquiry.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has failed to turn over a single message from SNP ministers or officials.
Why should it be any different?
Mr Anwar said: “The Cabinet Office went to war over these messages and it lost that war.
“Those messages were an absolute treasure trove that exposed the incompetence, panic and territorial conflicts at the heart of government.
“At times it looked like a fight in a nursery.
“It begs the question, why should it be any different for Scotland? The Scottish Government promised families transparency.
“We find it inconceivable that senior government figures and medical advisors failed to retain this material.”
The UK Covid Inquiry’s legal team believes the majority of WhatsApp messages shared among Scottish Government officials during the pandemic have not been retained.
It is feared more than 100 senior figures at the heart of government may have deleted thousands of messages, according to a source close to the hearing quoted in the Daily Mail.
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 that messages have not yet been handed over.
A note to the inquiry from Mr Dawson said a majority of them may have been deleted.
What does the government say?
The Scottish Government’s legal team has asked for the inquiry to serve a Section 21 notice, which would compel it to hand over messages.
The submission also clarified the government’s process for informal communications, 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.”
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