Gething ‘stored material he should have handed to the Covid Inquiry in his attic’

Martin Shipton

Former First Minister Vaughan Gething initially failed to hand over notebooks he kept during the pandemic to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and stored them in his attic, new evidence published by the Inquiry has revealed.

In further newly released evidence, current First Minister Eluned Morgan and former Deputy Social Services Minister Julie Morgan apologised to the Inquiry for not providing it with details of a ministerial group chat in which Mr Gething admitted deleting messages to avoid their disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Inquiry sought new information from ministers after Nation.Cymru published leaked iMessages which showed how Mr Gething had told colleagues he was deleting messages.

Statement

In a statement made to the Inquiry in July 2024, Mr Gething said: “On May 7 2024, Nation Cymru published an online article titled ‘Vaughan Gething misled UK Covid Inquiry by not admitting he deleted messages’: The article claimed that an undisclosed iMessage provided to Nation Cymru ‘proved’ that I deleted conversations with ministerial colleagues on a group chat.

“The same day, the Director of the Welsh Government’s Covid-19 Inquiry team, acting on my behalf, informed the Inquiry about the article and provided the screenshot that had been published by Nation Cymru.”

Mr Gething added: “The Nation Cymru article was based on a message, sent on August 17 2020, which was part of an iMessage chain. I do not have a copy of these messages; | have been provided with a copy in order to prepare this statement.”

He said he did not remember which of his phones he had used to send and receive messages in the chain, but added: “From the copy of the iMessage I have seen myself, Lesley Griffiths, Jeremy Miles, Julie James, Jane Hutt, Ken Skates, Rebecca Evans, Hannah Blythyn and Eluned Morgan were part of the group, the others were Welsh Labour Ministers, apart from Mark Drakeford who was not a member of this group. | cannot recall who created the group; from the copy of the message I have seen the first message was sent by Julie James on August 17 2020 at 12.30.

“The first part of the chain is about the anticipated announcements about exam grading, the second part … refers to a Labour group meeting that was taking place.

“ I remember the context behind the message ‘I’m deleting the messages in this group. They can be captured in an FOI and think we are all in the right place on the choice being made”. The messages were sent following the meeting of the Labour party group of Members of the Senedd. In sending the message, I wanted to remind my colleagues to think about what they were saying because there were some unkind comments in the iMessage chain about a particular Labour party Member of the Senedd.

“I sent my message so that those in the chain were conscious of their language. I thought that the tone, content and language of some of the messages could have been embarrassing for others were they to be disclosed in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act. My reference to the messages being ‘captured in an FOI was a prompt to others in the chain to think about what they were saying. This is the only message I sent in the iMessage chain.

“I have been asked to outline my normal practice in terms of deleting messages. I did not have a practice of regularly deleting messages. I cannot recall any instances when I suggested or deleted messages with other colleagues of the Welsh Government, including Ministers, senior officials or advisers between January 2020 and May 2022.”

Notebooks

In a later statement dated May 6 2025, Mr Gething said: “This is my response to the Inquiry’s request for evidence … relating to three notebooks which I used during the pandemic and which I recently disclosed to the Inquiry.

“When I was a Minister, I used notebooks to record key points from meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and other members of the Senedd. The notes related to either government or party-political business. I therefore knew that I had notebooks which I had used during the pandemic period, and which may be relevant to the Inquiry’s requests for disclosure. My notebooks were initially stored in my home office but …these were later stored in the attic at home.

“ In 2022-23 I had building works at my house: the contents of my home office were boxed up in April 2022 and stored in the attic, and after some delays the building work commenced in August 2022. It was completed at the end of January 2023.

“On receipt of the Inquiry’s original Module 2B request for disclosure of notebooks and other hard copy documents, I searched the attic several times for the notebooks. I found three notebooks which I understand were disclosed to the Inquiry by the Welsh Government on October 27 2023.

“I thought that there were more notebooks relevant to the disclosure request stored in my attic but despite several detailed searches I could not find them. I informed the Welsh Government’s Covid-19 Inquiry team accordingly. I am told by the team that they gave this information to the Inquiry’s Module 2B team verbally during their regular meetings.

“The three notebooks I have recently disclosed were found in the attic of my home. On the evening of December 2 2024, I had cause to search the attic again because I was looking for a book for my son and I found a box underneath several other items including duvets and a cricket bag. The notebooks were at the very bottom of this box together with the book I was looking for. I notified the Welsh Government’s central inquiry team on December 3 2024, and the day after (December 4), handed the notebooks to the team so that they could be disclosed to the Inquiry.

“There are no further relevant notebooks or any other hard copy materials in my possession.”

iMessage chain

In a statement made in June 2024, Eluned Morgan made a statement to the Inquiry which said: “I was informed that the Covid-19 public inquiry had asked me to confirm that I had access to an iMessage chain dated August 17 2020, which I confirmed that day. On the May 15 2024 I was informed that the Covid -19 public inquiry had requested copies of the iMessage chain and I provided them to officials in the Welsh Government the same day. I understand that officials in the Welsh Government provided the iMessage chain that was extracted from my phone to the Covid-19 public inquiry, these were processed in accordance with disclosure processes, and were acknowledged as having been received by the public inquiry on May 17 2024.

“Since that time, I have been asked by the Inquiry to explain why I did not disclose this particular message chain in response to previous requests in this Module. I apologise for any oversight in disclosure. I did not submit this short stream of iMessages previously because I did not recall that it existed, I rarely used iMessage groups. The exchange itself was short and lasted less than five hours: the first message was posted at 12.30pm and the last at 17.06pm. Since reviewing this iMessage chain, I have not recollected any other iMessages that I consider relevant to this Module.

“ … I outlined the WhatsApp groups and messages that I was a member of and have made these available to the Public Inquiry, this was extensive disclosure. At the time I looked at messages I exchanged with Ministers, senior civil servants and advisers in government and the groups I used to exchange information.

“I have previously explained that all decisions that were made and those to which I contributed were conducted through official channels and recorded in email, minutes, letters, or decision records. I did use both text and WhatsApp to maintain regular contact with my ministerial colleagues and those within my department.

“I am happy to make my phone available to the inquiry should it wish to examine it in person.”

Mobile phone

In her statement Cardiff North MS Julie Morgan said: “I have been asked to explain why I did not disclose this particular message chain to the Inquiry in response to previous requests.

“The way that I work is not reliant on the use of my mobile phone. I would often receive messages or be invited to groups, but I would not always proactively respond. In this regard, I do not consider myself to be technically minded at all. It was only when I received the request from the Public Inquiry dated May 13 2024, and.I interrogated my phone for that specific chain that I became aware of it on my phone.

“I do not recall receiving the iMessage chain on August 17 2020 or reading the content of the chain at that time. I did not participate in the chain, and was surprised to have located it on my phone.

“I accept that I should have undertaken a more extensive search and have been more proactive in interrogating my phone when I received the original request. I have done so now, and I have identified additional messages that may be relevant to the original Rule 9 request, and have provided these messages to the Inquiry. At the time the original request was received and because I am not technically minded. I asked for support from my private office with interrogating my phone, but they did not determine its relevance, that was a decision for me. As I said, my technical ability in respect of mobile phones is limited and was not able to fully assist the interrogation process.

“Since receiving the supplemental Rule 9, I have, with help from my constituency office, thoroughly examined my phone and I deeply regret not having done this previously.”

Obligations

Solicitor Stephanie McGarry, who represents the Welsh Government, said in a statement: “The Welsh Government is fully aware of its obligations to disclose potentially relevant material to the Inquiry.”

Ms McGarry went on to give a detailed explanation of the steps taken by the Welsh Government to ensure that all evidence of relevance to the Covid Inquiry was disclosed

She said: ”It is essential that any records of decisions made, the reasons behind the decision and the evidence used to reach the decision are preserved as potential evidence for an inquiry and the Welsh Government has an obligation to do so under the Inquiries Act. The Covid 19 Public Inquiry will be looking at how decisions were made, communicated, recorded and implemented.

“Evidence can be in any format not just Word documents, e.g. email; paper notes; text/messaging; social media. The Welsh Government has a duty to ensure that all potential evidence for the Covid 19 Inquiry is preserved. “Good information management is key to providing an audit trail of decisions, developing narrative and providing evidence to support decisions made.

“It is essential that any records of decisions made, the reasons behind the decision and the evidence used to reach the decision are preserved as potential evidence for an inquiry and the Welsh Government has an obligation to do so under the Inquiries Act. The Covid 19 Public Inquiry will be looking at how decisions were made, communicated, recorded and implemented.

“This also noted that “Use of non-corporate communication channels, e.g. personal email, What’s App, Messenger, text, will come under scrutiny by the Inquiry. Any official business that may have been conducted via text or conducted on non-corporate communication channels (personal mobile phone, personal/private email, messaging) should be summarised and saved to iShare as part of the record of Welsh Government’s business.”

Recall

The Inquiry’s chair, Baroness Heather Hallett published a statement saying that she did not consider it necessary to recall Mr Gething to give further evidence in person, as she already had enough information to make a judgment about his role in the matter.

In response to the release of documents, the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru issued a statement that said: “We are deeply disappointed that, despite overwhelming evidence that Welsh Government ministers systematically destroyed crucial evidence, the UK Covid Inquiry has failed to investigate this matter in public.

“The Inquiry’s stance seems to be that access to these deleted messages would not have changed its recommendations. But how can anyone seriously claim to deliver the best recommendations without having sight of all the evidence? Messages —were deliberately deleted, set to auto‑delete or wiped at the push of a button — they were erased for a reason, and that reason must be uncovered.

“This goes far beyond one minister. Welsh Government ministers and special advisers used informal channels — iMessages, WhatsApp, personal phones — to make key decisions affecting the lives of thousands, all the while ensuring those records would vanish. Vaughan Gething says he didn’t personally delete certain iMessages, but the reality is that across government, messages were proactively erased, disappearing message functions were enabled, and, shockingly, even alarms were reportedly set to trigger deletions. And we still do not know exactly why the data from all Mr Gething’s four different phones were not backed up during this period.

“The Inquiry had a perfect opportunity to confront this head-on in Vaughan Gething’s case but chose not to. Welsh regulators and the Senedd have also failed to act, leaving bereaved families with more questions than answers.

“This is disheartening — but sadly not unexpected. That is why we urgently need a dedicated Wales Covid Inquiry with a clear priority: to investigate exactly how and why so much evidence was destroyed and to finally hold those responsible to account.

“This reflects the wider issues of a government that is casual and sloppy, that dismissed protocols and had little regard for the gravitas of their actions.”