Welsh ministers didn’t know Covid rules - inquiry

Simon Hart said members of First Minister Mark Drakeford’s own cabinet were expressing a “surprising amount of confusion. He suggested that the motivation for differing rules was to be different just for the sake of it. The comments come on the eighth day of the UK inquiry#38;s Welsh module. Welsh ministers didn’t know own Covid rules, inquiry told.

Health expert astonished at lack of Covid urgency in early 2020. First politician to give evidence at the inquiry said: “Mark #39:s own team were WhatsApping each other saying #38: ‘I don’t fully understand the rules. Jane Runeckles said she had confirmed with the civil service that she did not receive this notice, but added that she recognised she was not allowed to use her personal phone for work purposes. She said work WhatsApp groups on herpersonal phone were used for “admin purposes#34, and #32;team morale only.

Ms Runeckles switched the auto-delete function on, which erases messages after seven days. The inquiry heard that disappearing WhatsApp messages were turned on in more than one group at different times during the pandemic. She insisted she felt there wasn’t any evidence of decision-making in any of these groups.

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