Nicola Sturgeon has said the UK Covid Inquiry does have copies of messages between her and colleagues.
In a statement posted on X, the former first minister said messages communicated through “informal means” were handed to the inquiry last year.
She said she was commenting out of respect for those impacted by the pandemic.
Ms Sturgeon has come under criticism after the inquiry heard she had deleted her messages.
On Friday, Jamie Dawson KC, counsel to the inquiry, said the former first minister appeared to “have retained no messages whatsoever”.
The hearing in Edinburgh was also told that her then-deputy John Swinney’s WhatsApp messaging was set to auto-delete.
Ms Sturgeon previously said she had “nothing to hide” but had not clarified if her WhatsApp messages were deleted.
The UK Covid inquiry is sitting in Scotland for three weeks. It was taking evidence from senior civil servant Lesley Fraser, director general corporate at the Scottish government.
On Saturday, Ms Sturgeon wrote on the social media site X: “I do not intend to give a running commentary on the ongoing Inquiry. Instead, out of respect to all those impacted by the pandemic, I will answer questions directly and openly when I give evidence at the end of this month.
Copies submitted
“However, in light of recent coverage, there are certain points I feel it important to make clear.
“Contrary to the impression given in some coverage, the Inquiry does have messages between me and those I most regularly communicated with through informal means.
“Although these had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the Inquiry last year.”
Ms Fraser told the inquiry that relatively new technologies such as Zoom were being used during the pandemic and that records may not have been retained in the way they might be now, when a digital footprint is more likely to be created.
Mr Dawson then questioned her about a table supplied by the Scottish government last October summarising ministers’ use of notebooks, retention of messages and other forms of communication.
Image source, PA Media
The inquiry was told former deputy first minister John Swinney used an auto-delete function for his messages
He said: “Under the box ‘Nicola Sturgeon’, it says that messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changes of phones, unable to retrieve messages.
“What that tends to suggest is at the time that request was made Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister of Scotland, had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic.”
Ms Fraser replied: “That’s what that indicates to me.”
She also confirmed that the Scottish government had been unable to supply Ms Sturgeon’s messages from its corporate record.
Handwritten notes
Writing on Saturday, Ms Sturgeon said that she conducted her Covid response through “formal processes” from her office and not through WhatsApp or “any other informal messaging platform”.
“I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups. The number of people I communicated with through informal messaging at all was limited,” she wrote.
“Also, any handwritten notes made by me were passed to my private office to be dealt with and recorded as appropriate.
“Throughout the entire process, I acted in line with Scottish government policy.
“I did my level best to lead Scotland through the pandemic as safely as possible – and shared my thinking with the country on a daily basis.
“I did not get every decision right – far from it – but I was motivated only, and at all times, by the determination to keep people as safe as possible,” she added.
‘Deletion of key messages’
Scottish Conservative party chairman Craig Hoy MSP said Ms Sturgeon must “think the Scottish public are fools”.
He said: “The former first minister appears to have deliberately and repeatedly deleted her WhatsApp messages and she must have done so for a reason.
“Rather than apologising to the country, she is cynically seeking to deflect attention from the mass deletion of key messages by top ministers and officials.”
Mr Hoy added that Ms Sturgeon’s statement did not make clear how decisions were made during the pandemic.
“Saying there’s no decisions sent by WhatsApp does not inform the public at all. This statement is just another instalment in the unravelling of the SNP. The addiction to spin and secrecy must come to an end now,” he said.
