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Covid inquiry: Minutes missing from key Scottish government meetings [1]

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Date: 2024-02 

Minutes of key decision-making meetings held by Nicola Sturgeon during the pandemic are missing, the Covid inquiry heard today.

Kate Forbes, former cabinet secretary for finance and economy, said she was “surprised” to hear that minutes were not taken during ‘Gold Command’ and the ‘Scottish Government Resilience Room’ (SGoRR) meetings.

“I think every meeting of that nature in the Scottish government should be minuted,” she said. “I’m surprised to hear that they weren’t.”

Counsel to the inquiry Jamie Dawson said: “It becomes difficult to understand what precisely the ultimate decision-making process is, when there is no record of how those decisions were ultimately taken.”

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Former deputy first minister John Swinney, speaking after Forbes, defended the lack of minutes, saying summary notes were circulated for both types of meetings.

Asked why they were not fully minuted, Swinney said: “I’ve explained the basis on which I think they were being recorded… and I can recall various notes which summarised the discussion that took place within the Gold meetings.”

It also transpired that Kate Forbes was not aware of the Gold Command meetings until she was invited to them in 2021, and had been excluded until then.

“I wasn’t sure I was aware they existed,” she said, but added she “would have expected to be invited to any meeting where there was any significant financial implications”.

Gold meetings would have included Sturgeon, some advisers and a rotating number of other ministers, including sometimes current first minister Humza Yousaf.

The inquiry also heard on Tuesday how Swinney spent 17 years deleting information, such as WhatsApp messages, from his phone.

Nicola Sturgeon, who will be appearing at the inquiry tomorrow, will also likely face questions about the locations of her WhatsApp messages during the pandemic.

The hearings continue. openDemocracy is fundraising to pay reporters to cover every day of the inquiry. Please support us by donating here.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/covid-19-inquiry-missing-minutes-kate-forbes-john-swinney/

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