Ending use of WhatsApp is ‘clear admission’ Government was wrong, claim Tories

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The Scottish Government has given a “clear admission” that its use of WhatsApp and deletion of messages during the pandemic was wrong, the Conservatives have said.

It comes after Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced the Government will end its use of WhatsApp and other non-official messaging applications by spring next year.

The Government was criticised when it emerged ministers and top civil servants deleted WhatsApp messages which had been requested by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

As a result of a review ordered by former first minister Humza Yousaf, the use of mobile messaging apps will come to an end.

On Tuesday, Ms Forbes told MSPs: “One of the key questions asked in the review was around the use of mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp.

“The report provides a clear recommendation in this regard. We have taken the decision to end the use of mobile messaging applications across the Scottish Government. This will happen by spring 2025.

“Government business should happen on Government systems which are secure, searchable and allow the appropriate sharing of information, in line with our statutory duties.

“Scottish Government ministers and staff will not be permitted to use WhatsApp, or any other non-corporate communications channel, to conduct Government business.

“To give effect to this, non-corporate mobile messaging applications will, by spring, be removed from devices and our technical environment configured so that they cannot be used.”

She also said the Government will produce “very clear guidelines” on what is permitted to ensure staff follow the new rules.

The Tories complained that opposition MSPs were not given enough time to read the 94-page review written by Emma Martins as it was only published a few minutes before Ms Forbes’s statement.

Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane suggested the ministerial code had been broken as the usual parliamentary protocols had been breached.

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.

“Not just the use but the pre-determined deletion of messages.

“(Former national clinical director) Jason Leitch said it was his pre-bedtime ritual to delete all WhatsApp messages and a senior civil servant reminded everyone that WhatsApp messages are FOI-able and to delete them.

“What were they hiding? We will never know.”

Ms Forbes said there will be “robust training” on the use of mobile messaging applications.

Labour’s Daniel Johnson echoed the Conservative complaints about the late publication of the report, saying it had been written in November.

In late 2023, lead counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Jamie Dawson KC said most of the messages sent within the Scottish Government had been deleted.

It later transpired a number of senior members of the Government, including John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon, had deleted messages, though both stressed they did not relate to Government business.

Mr Leitch was also criticised for describing deleting WhatsApp messages as a “pre-bed ritual”, while another senior clinician warned colleagues that messages could be published under freedom of information legislation.