3 days ago
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Labour MSP's bid to criminalise wiping government WhatsApps
Ms Clark's Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill would overhaul the country's two-decade-old FOI laws and introduce penalties for the destruction of material that could be subject to public scrutiny.
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'It is completely unacceptable for politicians and officials to wipe WhatsApps, texts and other messages about the work of government and public bodies,' the West of Scotland MSP said.
'Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney still have very serious questions to answer about the disappearance of all of their WhatsApp messages about the SNP's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
'Their explanations about the unavailability of these messages is simply not good enough given the lives lost and the catastrophic decision to admit infected patients into care homes at the height of the outbreak.
"Nicola Sturgeon, in particular, has offered up remarkably similar excuses to Boris Johnson when failing to provide WhatsApp messages from her phone to the Covid public inquiry. "
The Member's Bill proposes sweeping reforms, including the removal of the First Minister's power to override Freedom Of Information (FOI) rulings made by the Scottish Information Commissioner — a power that has never been used but has long been criticised by transparency campaigners.
Ms Clark said her proposals would address what she claimed as a long-standing culture of secrecy in government, particularly under the SNP.
The legislation would also make clear that deleting messages or documents that could be subject to FOI requests — even before a request is made — would be a criminal offence if done deliberately or recklessly.
'The SNP has spent nearly 20 years attempting to evade freedom of information requests from the public and journalists,' she said.
'Nicola Sturgeon's and John Swinney's disappearing WhatsApp messages speak volumes about their party's contempt for the public's right to know about what were quite literally life-and-death decisions made by the government.
'Scotland's freedom of information laws urgently need to be tightened up and extended to cover any area that involves the use of taxpayers' money.'
David Hamilton, the Scottish Information Commissioner, welcomed the Bill and said it was time to modernise FOI for the digital age.
'In the 20 years since it was introduced, FOI has had a big impact, with more than 1.4 million requests made to Scotland's public bodies,' he said.
'After 20 years though, it is undoubtedly time for a refresh — not least because there have been massive changes in both the way we access information and the way public bodies deliver their services.'
He said the current system had failed to keep pace with how decisions are made and information is shared — particularly when services are delivered by third parties or decisions are taken through informal communications such as WhatsApp.
Nicola Sturgeon giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry (Image: PA) The inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic heard how both Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney failed to retain messages that might have shed light on key decisions taken at the height of the crisis.
Ms Sturgeon has said she had 'nothing to hide' but admitted under questioning that she had deleted the messages herself, citing long-standing advice not to retain informal communications on insecure devices.
Appearing before the inquiry last year, she said: 'In line with the advice I'd always been given since my first day in government probably was not to retain conversations like that on a phone that could be lost or stolen and therefore not secure.'
Asked directly whether she had deleted her WhatsApp messages, she replied: 'Yes.'
That was despite a commitment in 2021 that all correspondence would be handed over to any future inquiry, including WhatsApps and private emails.
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Ken Thomson, who was director general for strategy and external affairs under Ms Sturgeon, was found to have written in a civil servant WhatsApp group: 'Just to remind you (seriously) this is discoverable under FOI. Know where the 'clear chat' button is.'
He added: 'Plausible deniability are my middle names. Now clear it again.'
In evidence to the inquiry, Mr Thomson denied that there had been a culture of evasion and insisted the remarks were light-hearted.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: 'Scotland has the most open and far-reaching Freedom of Information legislation in the UK. As this Member's Bill has now been introduced, it will be scrutinised by Parliament and we will consider its detail.'
