Nicola Sturgeon has insisted a WhatsApp talk among senior officials about avoiding freedom of information requests during the Covid pandemic was “light-hearted”.
The former First Minister also told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry in Edinburgh that one of those involved was a civil servant of the “utmost integrity”.
The Inquiry was previously shown an exchange from August 2020 between Ken Thomson, the then manager of the Covid directorate, National Clinical Director Jason Leitch and then deputy chief medical officer Nicola Steedman.
In it, Mr Thomson told the others: “Just to remind you (seriously) this is discoverable under FOI. Know where the ‘clear chat’ button is…”
He later added: “Plausible deniability is my middle name. Now clear it again!”
Mr Leitch replied “Done” and Ms Steedman “Me too”.
Read more: Tearful Nicola Sturgeon wishes she hadn't been FM when Covid struck
Mr Thomson also used the phrase “This information you requested is not held centrally”, a stock phrase the Scottish Government uses when refusing FoI requests.
Mr Thomson denied he had been trying to frustrate the freedom of information regime, which gives people access to public records unless there are particular reasons to withhold it.
Questioned by inquiry counsel Jamie Dawson KC, Ms Sturgeon said she was not “particularly conscious” of WhatsApp groups where officials were exchanging information.
She said she had “never seen” the messages in which Mr Thomson reminded the others about clearing the chat and referred to freedom of information.
Mr Dawson said the WhatsApp exchange had been deleted by Mr Thomson, Mr Leitch and others, but retained by clinician Dr Jim McMenamin of Public Health Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon said she interpreted the exchange as “light-hearted”, noting it did not appear to make any decisions on the Covid response.
She said: “All the public servants are people of the utmost integrity and at this point and throughout the pandemic they were public servants working in a dedicated fashion… above and beyond the call of duty.”
Asked whether Mr Thomson’s remark about information not being held centrally was “an excuse officials trotted out in response to FoI requests”, she agreed that was “an interpretation that can be out on it”.
However she said officials and ministers took the pandemic “extremely seriously”, and Mr Thomson was one of the most experienced and assiduous of those involved.
She agreed it would be “abhorrent” if the Scottish Government had tried to destroy information in order to frustrate FoI and hide it from the public.
However, amid the pressure of the pandemic, it was understandable that occasionally officials would make light-hearted comments “to get themselves through the day”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel