NATS chiefs today banned WhatsApp on government phones after Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, and other senior SNP figures sparked fury after deleting messages from during the pandemic.
Deputy first minister Kate Forbes told MSPs ministers and civil servants would not be allowed to use the app by “Spring 2025”.
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood during a Covid-19 briefing[/caption]
Former first minister Humza Yousaf launched a review into the use of WhatsApp[/caption]
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes MSP told ministers and civil servants they can’t use the messaging platform from April next year[/caption]
She said: “Scottish Government Ministers and staff will not be permitted to use WhatsApp, or any other non-corporate communications channel, to conduct government business.”
But the announcement sparked concern this would move conversations onto personal phones, outside the scope of freedom of information and public inquiries.
The review, led by Emma Martins, said policies around the use of WhatsApp brought in by SNP chiefs in 2022 which told ministers and staff to regularly delete messages was “not fit for purpose”.
The review said: “The current policy on MMAs is not considered to be fit for purpose and it is recommended that it be withdrawn and replaced with a new policy.”
Humza Yousaf launched the review earlier this year after the UK Covid inquiry heard that former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had deleted all her WhatsApps — despite telling Scots on TV she would hand all of them over.
And mountains of messages between key ministers — including Ms Sturgeon, her successor Humza Yousaf, and Mr Swinney — and civil servants showed they joked about deleting the messages to avoid publishing them through transparency rules.
Jason Leitch, the National Clinical Director, also angered Covid bereaved groups for saying deleting his WhatsApps was a “pre-night” ritual.
We also revealed in October how the UK’s chief medical officers rallied round disgraced adviser Catherine Calderwood after her lockdown-busting trip to Fife, also revealed by The Scottish Sun.
She told figures like Chris Whitty and Jonathan Van Tam that she would try to “ride it out”, before resigning later the same day.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the policy was an admission the “pre-determined deletion of messages” was wrong.
He said: “This statement is a clear admission by the Scottish Government that what they have been doing and what they did over the Covid pandemic was wrong.”
Responding to the Scottish Government’s decision to remove WhatsApp on government devices, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
“Nothing in today’s statement will retrieve those WhatsApp messages that we know were being deleted on a wholesale basis throughout the Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic.
“Nothing in today’s statement will offer closure or answers to the families of the Covid bereaved.”
The messaging app will be banned in the Scottish Government from April[/caption]
