Former Director General Health and Social Care WhatsApp messages during the Covid-19 pandemic: FOI release

Information requested

The WhatsApp messages of Elinor Mitchell 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.

All but one of the WhatsApp conversations featuring the late Elinor Mitchell have been considered as part of your previous FOI requests, refs. 202400422237, 202400425743, 202400425744 and 202400427872. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you are unable to obtain this information from either the previous correspondence or the published responses on the Scottish Government website, then please contact us again and we will send further copies in a different format.

I have enclosed the one additional WhatsApp conversation with the former Director-General Health and Social Care in this response. An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information in the message exchanges because it comprises personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. Elinor Mitchell’s phone number has also been redacted as out-of-scope information.

About FOI

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

FOI 202400436344 - Information Released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

60.7 kB