Former Chief Medical Officer for Scotland WhatsApp messages during Covid-19 pandemic: FOI release

Information requested

The WhatsApp messages of Professor Catherine Calderwood, 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’, up to and including 5 April, the date on which Professor Calderwood stood down from her post as CMO.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested. I should note that the copies of these messages held by the Scottish Government comprise text only and do not include other media such as images.

The Scottish Government holds a copy of a WhatsApp conversation between Professor Calderwood and Ms Jeane Freeman, then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, covering an exchange on 13 March 2020. The other messages in this document date from 2022 and are therefore out of scope of the request, given that neither individual was in post by this point.

The Scottish Government holds an additional brief one-on-one conversation between Professor Calderwood and Malcolm Wright, then Director-General Health and Social Care. All messages falling within the date range outlined above have been provided in full.

Professor Calderwood was also a participant in five group discussions with colleagues. I have 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 30(b)(ii), 36(1), 37(1)(b) and 38(1)(b) of FOISA apply to that information (see annex for further detail).

One additional group conversation between Professor Calderwood and her CMO counterparts in the UK Government and other devolved administrations has been withheld in full under section 30(b)(ii), after discussion with the CMO Office about the conditions under which such conversations are carried out. They have advised that there is an expectation of confidentiality when discussions are held between CMOs and that maintaining a private space in which to exchange views freely and frankly is critical to the development of sound clinical advice. If the information exchanged in private between different CMOs were to be disclosed, it would substantially inhibit the continued ability of CMOs to discuss emerging clinical matters with their counterparts across the UK in a way that allowed provisional exploration of ideas and inter-CMO scrutiny, which in turn has an impact on their capacity to provide sound advice to decision-makers.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400425753 - Information Released - Annex

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