Scottish government to remove WhatsApp from phones

The Scottish government is ending the use of WhatsApp and other "non-corporate" messaging services for government business on its mobile devices.

The move comes after the UK Covid Inquiry revealed officials and ministers had deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged during the pandemic.

The government had previously committed to ending its use of WhatsApp and other non-official messaging applications by spring of this year.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the move would increase "openness and transparency" in government - but the Scottish Conservatives said the public "would not be duped into thinking one overdue concession marks a change in culture."

Opposition MSPs have said the new policy is a "clear admission" from the government that it was wrong to delete messages from during the pandemic.

The policy has now come into affect but some emergency and security teams will continue to phase out the app by the end of the year.

As part of the UK Covid Inquiry, it emerged top civil servants and government ministers, including Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, deleted WhatsApp messages referring to government business which had been requested by the inquiry team.

However, they said any "salient" points were recorded on the corporate record and only informal messages were deleted.

Other Scottish government ministers - including Forbes, who served as finance secretary during the pandemic - said they had retained their WhatsApp messages.

Sturgeons successor Humza Yousaf ordered a review of mobile messaging which was carried out by Emma Martins - the former Channel Islands data protection commissioner.

The report found there was "little to evidence a consistent and widespread knowledge, understanding, or application" of mobile messaging apps, "including rules around retention, exportation, and deletion".

The Scottish governments policy on mobile messaging applications states that any material relevant to decisions has to be recorded on the corporate record.

Kate Forbes previously said government figures had acted in line with that policy, but that they had "reflected" on the policy in hindsight.

"The use of mobile messaging apps increased during the pandemic as staff worked remotely in unprecedented and difficult circumstances," she said.

"Having reflected on our working practices, we are now implementing changes to the use of such apps."

The deputy first minister said the policy will apply to all Scottish government employees, including contractors, senior civil servants, special advisers and ministers.

She said ministers and staff should use corporate-approved apps, such as Teams and email, and personal phones should not be used for official business.

Forbes said the government prioritised keeping "secure and searchable data" in line with record management rules.

She added: "We will continue to act to ensure our data policies are robust, especially considering technological advances."

Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy said: "This is as close as well get to an apology from the SNP for the shameful, industrial-scale deletion of Covid WhatsApp messages which was orchestrated by John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon.

"This change in policy is all well and good but the horse has already bolted for bereaved families who were denied the answers they deserved over the decisions taken by SNP ministers during the pandemic.

"Secrecy and evasion are hardwired into this SNP government, so the Scottish people will not be duped into thinking one overdue concession marks a change in culture."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the new policy did not change the fact that the Scottish government deleted WhatsApp messages "on a wholesale basis" during the pandemic.

He added: "In doing so, they denied the Covid bereaved a full understanding of the decisions that were made, undermining their search for justice and closure.

"The SNP will have to move mountains before people can be confident this deception wont happen again."

The UK government was also criticised over its record-keeping, with former Scottish Secretary Alister Jack telling the inquiry he had deleted all of his messages to create memory space on his phone.

The Scottish Information Commissioner, who oversees freedom of information laws, also launched a review into how officials and ministers use and retain informal communications.

The watchdog said the UK Covid inquiry had raised "significant practice concerns" over how ministers used messaging services such as WhatsApp.