Professor Sir Gregor Smith's WhatsApp messages during the COVID-19 pandemic: FOI release

Information requested

The WhatsApp messages of Professor Sir Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, during the Covid-19 pandemic, which for practical purposes we have interpreted as the period from 21 January 2020, the date on which the WHO published its ‘Novel Coronavirus (2019- nCoV) Situation Report’, to 30 April 2022, the date on which remaining Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in Scotland.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government holds a copy of a WhatsApp conversation between the CMO and Humza Yousaf dating from 2021 during Mr Yousaf’s time as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 30(b)(i) and 37(1)(b)(ii) of FOISA apply to that information. Further explanation of these exemptions is provided in the annex.

I should note that the copy of these messages held by the Scottish Government comprises text only and does not include other media such as images. The copy held also includes existing redactions of personal data, marked in black.

The Scottish Government holds an additional one-on-one conversation between Professor Smith and Malcolm Wright, then Director-General Health and Social Care. This set of messages has been published in full by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry (UKI). I can confirm that the version held by SG exactly matches the published version. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the UKI website, please let us know and we can arrange to supply it in a different format.

The CMO was also part of a WhatsApp group with colleagues, largely used to organise calls between participants. Anextract of this chathas been published by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. For the non published portion, I have provided some of the information you have requested. We are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 30(b)(i), 37(1)(b)(ii) and 38(1)(b) and of FOISA apply to that information. As noted, an explanation of these exemptions is provided in the annex.

The CMO was also a participant in a number of other group discussions with colleagues which the UKI has not published in full or in part at the time of writing. I have therefore provided copies of these to supply some of the information you have requested. As before, we have been unable to provide some of the information requested because exemptions under sections 28(1), 30(b) and (c), 36(1), 37(1)(b) and 38(1)(b) of FOISA apply to that information (see annex for further detail).

The CMO was also a member of a WhatsApp group chat with officials named the ‘Covid Outbreak Group’, extracts of which have been published by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry (UKI), and a separate group chat between officials named ‘Group B1617.2’, for which there are also published extracts. The Scottish Government has been supplied with a reference copy of these group conversations in confidence by the UKI as a core participant of the public inquiry. Similarly, he was a member of a discussion with the National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch, and Dr Jim McMenamin of Public Health Scotland, part of which has been published by the UKI, plus an individual chat with Dr McMenamin. Please note that this material is all subject to the UKI’s general restriction order of 23 February 2024. We are unable to provide this information because an exemption under section 37(1)(b) (ii) of FOISA applies to documents created by a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration for the purposes of that inquiry or arbitration. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

In relation to the published extracts of the group conversations, under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. Again, if you are unable to obtain this information from the UKI website, please let us know and we can arrange to supply it in a different format.

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FOI 202400422237 - Information Released - Annex A

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2 page PDF

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FOI 202400422237 - Information Released - Annex B

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3.2 MB