Questions remain about the Scottish government’s Covid WhatsApps

The mystery of the missing WhatsApps continues. Deputy First Minister Shona Robison took to the floor at Holyrood today to issue an update about the Scottish Government’s interactions with the UK Covid Inquiry. Amid ongoing concern about whether ministers deleted public records, Robison’s contributions don’t offer a whole lot of clarity…

Addressing the Scottish parliament today, Robison said that all requested Scottish Government messages that are still ‘held’ will be shared ‘in full and unredacted’ by 6 November. Any deleted messages ‘will be for individuals to explain to the inquiries any actions they have taken in relation to records retention,’ she continued ominously. But ‘with regards to the Scottish Government’s records management policy she said ‘it is not practical, cost-effective or necessary for any organisation to retain every single exchange’.

A ‘dedicated mobile messaging policy’ was, apparently, only introduced in November 2021 after the height of the pandemic was over. The guidance, Robison says, has ‘always been clear that regardless of the source medium, information relevant to the corporate record must be saved’. ‘Let