by John Swinney “manually” deleted messages between himself, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf in a practice that may date back to 2007, the UK’s Covid-19 Inquiry has heard.
The former deputy first minister said he rarely spoke to his former leader Ms Sturgeon via text messages or other informal means, saying texts were only used to arrange a phone call.
These messages, he told the inquiry, were destroyed at the direction of the Scottish Government.
However, with the current occupant of Bute House, the inquest heard there were 18 pages of WhatsApp messages between the two men.
Mr Swinney deleted the messages, which were found in Mr Yousaf’s old car and were later submitted to the inquiry.
The former deputy first minister – who also had roles overseeing education, Covid recovery and finance during his time in Government – defended his lack of message retention, which he said was in line with guidance from the Government Scotland, released in 2021.
He also said that he had abolished the same practice since he became minister in 2007, based on advice from his private office at the time.
Asked why he deleted the messages with Ms Sturgeon, Mr Swinney said: “I was told by my private office that I should not keep information relevant to the official government record in so-called sources uncontrolled.
“During my ministerial career I deleted material after ensuring that any relevant information was placed on the official government record, and that was the approach I was advised to take.”
He added: “That was advice given to me by my private office as far back as 2007 when I joined the government and it was also in my view consistent with the government’s records management policy.
“I also think it is in line with the obligations of the ministerial code.”
Asked about the retention of messages between himself and Mr Yousaf, Mr Swinney said: “They would be deleted by periodic deletion once I was satisfied that I had communicated to my private office any relevant information so that I was not dealing with a large number of messages. that I might have to delete it once.”
The way he handled messages, Mr Swinney said, was in line with Scottish Government policy, but he “apologised unreservedly” if he did not understand the directive.
When lead inquiry counsel Jamie Dawson KC asked if there was a “flaw” in the policy, rather than complying with Mr Swinney, the MSP said: “Maybe there was, and what I would say to him was the inquiry is. that I believed that what I was doing was in line with that policy and that I was not doing anything during Covid that I had not done at any time during my 13 years as a Minister.
“My handling of information was not questioned at any stage in that process.”
The former deputy first minister appeared before the inquiry on Tuesday to give evidence, where he said he had worked “all the hours God sent” during the pandemic.
Earlier, the inquiry heard that the Scottish Government’s equivalent of Cobra meetings – the Scottish Government Room for Resilience (SGoRR) – had not been minuted.
The group generally only stands up when there is a crisis to manage, such as severe flooding or pressures on the NHS.
The news comes after the inquiry heard earlier meetings of senior ministers outside the regular cabinet meetings – the so-called “gold command” group – were also not made minutes.
During an evidence session with former finance secretary Kate Forbes, Mr Dawson said: “Minutes are not made on the SGoRR or gold group meetings, is that correct?”
Miss Forbes added: “I’m surprised by that and this is the first person I’ve heard it from.”
Mr Dawson said: “The reason we think that is the case is that we have obviously asked the Scottish Government for all the papers relating to these matters and although we have cabinet minutes, we don’t have records We have minutes on either of those groups.
“It becomes difficult to understand what the final decision-making process was when there is no record of how those decisions were made.”
Miss Forbes replied: “I understand that frustration.”
The former finance secretary said she did not know the gold leadership group existed until she was invited in 2021.
She also told the inquiry that she kept her WhatsApp messages up until January 2022.
Ms Forbes also spoke of her “tremendous sadness” at the impact the pandemic has had on people.
She told the inquiry: “Can I take this opportunity to express my immense sadness at the devastation that has been caused to so many families, but also the cost and personal loss to those who had to shield, those who was to be isolated and especially those who were separated from families during that period?”
She agreed that more could be done to support vulnerable people during the pandemic.
