Humza Yousaf did not make a deliberate decision to keep Covid WhatsApp messages, says spokesman

The First Minister found messages on an old phone

Humza Yousaf did not make a deliberate decision to keep his WhatsApp messages from during the Covid pandemic, but found them on an old phone, his spokesman has confirmed.

The First Minister previously said he had retained his messages and would be handing over “reams” of WhatsApps to the UK Covid Inquiry.

The issue hit the headlines last month after the Scottish Government was criticised at the UK inquiry for failing to hand over messages.

Humza Yousaf

Nicola Sturgeon, Mr Yousaf’s predecessor, has so far failed to confirm whether she deleted any messages from during the pandemic. Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, is reported to have routinely deleted his own.

Kate Forbes, the former finance secretary, told journalists she had retained all her Covid WhatsApps. She said it had been “made clear from quite an early stage” that an inquiry would take place.

Mr Yousaf told the BBC last week: "I have kept and retained all of the WhatsApp messages and I am more than happy to hand them over to the Covid inquiry.

"Government business isn't routinely done over WhatsApp and of course where any decisions were made, they were appropriately recorded within our message management system. If the Covid inquiry wants more information, needs more information, then I expect every minister, past and present, every Government official or clinical adviser to comply."

A spokesman for the First Minister said Mr Yousaf had found an old phone containing pandemic WhatsApps at home “relatively recently”. He said: “It was an old handset, is my understanding of it. I don’t think it was a government handset.”

Mr Yousaf previously pointed to a Scottish Government policy advising that “business conversations” on WhatsApp messages be deleted within a month after any decisions or “salient points” had been recorded.

Asked if the implication was that Mr Yousaf did not make a conscious decision to retain messages, going against Government policy, the spokesman said: “That would be correct, in terms of the guidance.”

The Scottish Government has provided more than 14,000 WhatsApp messages to the UK Covid Inquiry. This followed a legal notice known as a section 21 order. However, these only consist of those shared in WhatsApp groups containing at least one civil servant or special adviser.