Humza Yousaf and Scotland’s national clinical chief discussed how to get around Covid face mask rules, the official inquiry heard today.
Professor Jason Leitch told Mr Yousaf – then Scottish health secretary – that he would technically be within the regulations standing around chatting as long as he had a drink in his hands ‘at all times’.
The WhatsApp exchange took place in November 2021, when in people were not obliged to wear masks if they were sitting to eat or drink north of the border, but had to while moving around a bar or restaurant.
However, grilled on the messages at the inquiry today, Professor Leitch said he was merely advising the SNP minister on how to stay within the rules.
The official probe is currently taking evidence in Edinburgh about the Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic.
Prof Jason Leitch told Humza Yousaf that he would technically be within the regulations standing around chatting as long as he had a drink in his hands
The WhatsApp exchange took place in November 2021, when in people were not obliged to wear masks if they were sitting to eat or drink north of the border, but had to while moving around a bar or restaurant
In the WhatsApp exchange, Mr Yousaf asked about mask rules ahead of an event he was attending.
‘I know sitting at the table I don’t need my mask,’ Mr Yousaf said in the partially redacted message.
‘If I’m standing talking to folk need me mask on (sic)?’
Responding, the national clinical director said: ‘Officially yes.
‘But literally no one does. Have a drink in your hands at ALL times. Then you’re exempt.
‘So if someone comes over and you stand, lift your drink.’
Counsel to the inquiry Jamie Dawson KC suggested Prof Leitch had given Mr Yousaf a ‘work around to enable him to attend the function, not wear a mask and get out of complying with the rules’.
But Prof Leitch said: ‘No, that follows the rules.
‘If he has a drink and it’s a drinks reception-type environment, then that follows the rules.
‘I gave him advice to show him how to comply.’
When Mr Dawson pointed to the professor telling Mr Yousaf to ‘have a drink in your hands at ALL times’, he replied: ‘Having a drink in your hands means you don’t have to wear a mask.’
He added: ‘The nuance here is somebody approaches you because you’re the Cabinet Secretary for Health, or the national clinical director, talks to you at the table and you stand to speak to them.’
In July of 2021, Nicola Sturgeon announced that most coronavirus restrictions would be lifted, but masks would still be needed indoors.
Following an outcry from the hospitality industry, the final guidance was amended, removing the need to wear a mask in clubs and people were allowed to drink in pubs while standing.
Prof Leitch went on to say there was ‘nuance’ in the rules as lockdown was easing during that period, with this being one such situation.
Asked how the public was supposed to understand that level of complexity, the adviser admitted regulations were ‘tricky’ during that period.
Earlier, Prof Leitch said he regularly deleted messages during the pandemic.
The national clinical director went on to claim a message he sent claiming deletion to be a ‘pre-bed ritual’ was a ‘flippant exaggeration’.
He said: ‘As you’ve heard, the record retention policy was that you could use informal messaging systems for Scottish Government business.
‘If you did, you should ensure that any advice or any decisions or anything that should be in the corporate record was then placed in that corporate record by email, briefing, etc, and then you should delete the informal messaging, and that’s the guidance I followed.’
Mr Dawson then read out a statement from Mr Leitch in which he said: ‘Except for direct messages from my Twitter account, I have not retained any one-to-one informal communications in relation to the management of the pandemic in Scotland, this is because I followed the policy described in more detail above.’
Mr Dawson asked: ‘So, you used text messages, WhatsApp messages, is that right? But you did not retain them above and beyond the interpretation of the policy that you’ve just set out for us?’
In July of 2021, Nicola Sturgeon announced that most coronavirus restrictions would be lifted, but masks would still be needed indoor
Mr Leitch replied: ‘Correct.’
He was also asked about a message exchange shown to the inquiry last week in which he appeared to suggest deleting WhatsApp messages was a ‘pre-bed ritual’.
Mr Leitch said: ‘I didn’t daily delete my WhatsApp. My position is – as I have just described to you – that I tried to do today’s work today and if I could assure myself that work had been managed and dealt with, then I would delete the informal messaging that had led to that moment.
‘But this was a flippant exaggeration in an informal messaging group and it wasn’t done every day before I went to bed.’
The comments come amid a growing political storm over the retention of informal messages during the pandemic.
The inquiry has heard both former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and her deputy, John Swinney, both did not retain messages, while a message from Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Gregor Smith – who testified on Monday – showed him instructing colleagues to ‘delete at the end of every day’.