Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, Martin Reynolds - who headed the private office of the prime minister during the pandemic - told the inquiry earlier that he turned on the "disappearing messages" function in a WhatsApp group of top officials in April 2021.

While he was speaking, Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he did not delete WhatsApp messages relating to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Senior government figures during the pandemic, including former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, have been accused of wiping messages or using an auto-delete function.

Yousaf said it was "certainly not true" that he had removed messages, adding that his government would "fully" comply with both the UK and (separate) Scottish Covid inquiries.

Yousaf - who served as Scottish health secretary from May 2021 before becoming first minister in March 2023 - said government figures were not told to delete messages and that his administration had provided about 13,000 documents to the inquiries.

This morning's session of the Covid inquiry has been hearing from Martin Reynolds, the ex-senior aide for former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He'll be back for more after lunch.

Here's what the inquiry's heard so far today:

• The government's communication methods during the pandemic have been under scrutiny - with WhatsApp messages and emails being the focal points of Reynolds' questioning so far. In April 2021, Reynolds turned on the disappearing messages function in one group. He said he couldn't recall why, but insisted most of the content would have been duplicated in official emails
• Reynolds said the Cabinet Office was not adequately prepared for the scale of the pandemic, and acknowledged that, in hindsight, ministers should have been "far more vigorously looking and testing out" their plans
• When asked about ten days in February 2020 which coincided with the half-term break - when Johnson was apparently not given any information about the growing crisis - Reynolds said he "probably should" have done more. But he said there were other officials who could also have got in touch with the PM
• And the relationship between Dominic Cummings and Johnson was in the spotlight too this morning. Reynolds said a lot of time in early 2020 was spent trying to cope with changes introduced by Cummings
• After lunch we're also expecting to hear from Imran Shafi - who was another private secretary - and Johnson's former director of communications Lee Cain

Baroness Hallett has just paused the inquiry proceedings for lunch.

We've been hearing from Martin Reynolds, who headed Boris Johnson's private office when he was prime minister.

He'll be back for more questions when the inquiry resumes from 14:00 GMT.

Stay with us as we continue our coverage.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The picture we are getting from Martin Reynolds is that the government was not in good shape in the early weeks of the pandemic.

We've heard him admit the Cabinet Office - the engine room of government - failed to get on top of the situation in early 2020.

We've heard the government machine was not properly prepared for the scale of the crisis.

And we've also heard key information was not sent to Boris Johnson over a 10-day period in February 2020 - which coincided with the half-term break in England - when the pandemic was becoming more of a problem around the world.

This inquiry is trying to determine how the key government decisions were taken. But Reynolds' evidence will not be comfortable viewing for those involved in the government's structures at the time.

Martin Reynolds says the government did not have a “playbook” the coronavirus pandemic - leaving the centre of government “overloaded” when it hit.

Reynolds' previous biggest role was in the Foreign Office, where there is a “very large-scale playbook” for dealing with emergencies, like evacuations from hostile nations, he says. But other departments “were not crisis ready”.

“A pandemic as complex and challenging as Covid, you can’t have a meticulously organised plan,” but a playbook on how to deal with a crisis would have helped, he argues.

This meant when the pandemic hit, these departments looked to the centre of government for “strategic direction”, leaving Downing Street “overwhelmed”.

Under repeated questioning on whether there was "a plan for coronavirus”, Reynolds deflects. He argues he is not in a position to say. But says he agrees the plan in place “wasn't sophisticated enough".

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

Martin Reynolds looked uncomfortable when he was just asked about ten days in February when Boris Johnson was, apparently, not given any information about the growing coronavirus crisis.

The period - which coincided with the half-term break in England - ran between 14 February and 24 February.

"To what extent did you think to yourself, we've got Cobra meetings, we've got cabinet meetings, emails about a viral pandemic are coming our way? Why was nothing done in terms of keeping the prime minister in the loop in those ten days?" asked Hugo Keith KC.

Mr Reynolds replied that he "probably should" have done more but there were other officials who could also have got in touch with the prime minister.

He was pressed again by Hugo Keith KC who asked, "Did you say, we've got to get in touch with the PM and take urgent steps straight away?"

Reynolds replied simply: "No".

As Covid developed into a "national crisis", Hugo Keith KC asks if activity was being stepped up on dealing with the pandemic.

Reynolds says Johnson was aware of the issues, and there was not a disconnect in communications. He is keen to clarify that his role was not to give Johnson advice, or to second-guess advice from other advisers.

Reynolds says Johnson was having meetings with ministers and senior advisers over Covid.

From what he can recall, he says he was "reassured" that the Cabinet Office was working on the issues and Johnson was receiving "good advice".

"The prime minister doesn't always have to do everything personally," he adds, "if there is a sense that everything is under control".

And asked about Johnson's thoughts on scaremongering, he says: "I do believe he was concerned that if we reacted in certain ways, we could generate a sense of panic and concern which would be counterproductive."

Martin Reynolds continues to give evidence as he describes the funnel of information and work which comes through Downing Street.

"I had an overview of everything everyone was doing and we could pick up things if the ball was being dropped, but it was an information flow between the system and the prime minister," Reynolds tells the inquiry.

"The nature of my role is to manage the organisation of the operation around the prime minister to make sure he is getting a good service, is being updated, consulted and asked for decisions."

With hindsight, Reynolds admits he could have focused a lot more energy on coronavirus, but that wasn't the fundamental nature of his role.

But, Reynolds says he "did not proactively seek out" scientific material about the Covid-19 infection rates.

Image source, Crown copyright

Martin Reynolds is shown a number of communications from the early days of Covid, with Hugo Keith KC trying to get to the bottom of whether Reynolds, personally, was involved in debates about the risks of the virus.

He replies - "I'm not someone who was giving strong advice".

He says he was present in meetings but stresses the prominent role of the PM, saying communications at the time made clear that he wanted to "spend more time discussing the issue with his ministers".

He says the officials tracking what was a "normal crisis response" in this instance, were the Foreign Affairs team and the former PM's private secretary for public services, Imran Shafi.

Image source, Covid inquiry

With the inquiry back from its break, the discussion now is about whether Martin Reynolds took adequate steps to brief himself personally on the risks posed by Covid.

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

It's clear the inquiry's lead counsel, Hugo Keith KC, is getting frustrated with some of the language used by Martin Reynolds.

At times Boris Johnson's principal private secretary falls into civil service speak with lots of talk of the "challenges" of the pandemic along with the "procedures" and "machinery" of government.

At one point Keith - with some frustration in his voice - invited Reynolds to "speak plainly" when giving his answers.

At times though there are still important glimpses of how decisions were made at the time.

Reynolds suggests that government was functioning satisfactorily in January and February 2020 as Covid started to spread across the world but struggled when UK Covid cases started rising quickly in March.

He suggested that government departments were simply not prepared for the scale of the crisis as the NHS started to look like it could be overwhelmed.

The inquiry is back with Martin Reynolds continuing to face questions from Hugo Keith KC.

A reminder that you can watch every moment of the Covid inquiry by pressing the Play button at the top of this page. If you can't see the icon, refresh your browser or reload this page on the BBC news app.

Text updates will also continue on this page.

Image source, .

Image source, Covid Inquiry UK

The inquiry has heard from Martin Reynolds, the ex-senior aide for former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Let's get you up to speed on what's been said so far:

• Baroness Hallett, chair of the inquiry, opened today's proceedings by warning witnesses against sharing evidence before it's made public
• WhatsApp and email exchanges have been under scrutiny today. In April 2021, Martin Reynolds turned on the disappearing messages function in a PM updates group. He says he cannot recall why
• From messages in December 2021, the inquiry was told that Boris Johnson didn't think his messages would become publict to the inquiry
• On the Covid response, Reynolds told the inquiry they should have been "far more vigorously testing our arrangements for what was coming" and that Downing Street was "not properly prepared"
• He agreed with counsel for the inquiry Hugo Keith KC, that the government failed to get on top of the problem of Covid
• And the relationship between Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson was in the spotlight. Reynolds said a lot of time in early 2020 was spent trying to cope with changes introduced by Cummings

Martin Reynolds answers some quickfire questions about the structure of Downing Street - referring to it as the "machine".

He points out "the machine really struggles" when it goes "into full crisis mode" adding it becomes "extremely complicated with very high friction indeed".

Hugo Keith KC asks if it means "the machine was poor, structurally".

Reynolds replies by saying "the machine was not properly prepared for the scale of the crisis it was about to face".

The inquiry then rises for a quick break. It should be back at midday.

Stay with us as we recap the evidence so far.

Hugo Keith KC turns his attention to the Cabinet Office and its role in managing the pandemic.

He suggests that the system was not working well and was "incapable functionally of responding well to a crisis" - asking if Reynolds agrees.

"I think there are organisational challenges within the Cabinet Office," he responds.

Reynolds says there are "many things which could have been done differently" and the plans weren't in place for dealing with a crisis. He also says without these plans, it became "very very difficult to function".

He adds: "At every level, I agree with you that there are challenges."

Hugo Keith KC argues that the Cabinet Office, whose job it was to operate crisis machinery, "failed to get on top of this problem".

"Correct," Reynolds replies.

After February 2020, Keith KC says the issues within the Cabinet Office continued, as shown through WhatsApps.

More now on Boris Johnson’s administration, as Martin Reynolds is asked if the government was too “inexperienced” to deal with a crisis on the level of the Covid pandemic.

He says “quite a bit of senior energy” in the civil service was taken up with trying to cope with the changes brought in by Dominic Cummings.

Reynolds adds that, in the months leading up the pandemic, civil servants were distracted by “divergent” instructions from Cummings and the prime minister - while also fearing for their jobs while Cummings drew up a list of senior civil servants he thought were ineffective.

When asked about the Johnson-Cummings relationship early in 2020, Reynolds repeatedly says there was a "bedding down of a new arrangement".

The focus of the government machinery was on Brexit, HS2 and 5G rollout, he says.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

It's well known that Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings do not get on.

But Martin Reynolds has just been talking about when their relationship started to fray.

He's talking about shortly after the general election in 2020 - January and February 2021. Reynolds says around then it became clear the PM's agenda and that of his chief advisor were "not overlapping".

Reynolds says Cummings was the "most empowered" chief of staff Downing Street had seen.

This matters because the inquiry is trying to find out whether Downing Street was functioning properly when the pandemic hit.

Reynolds says there was a process of "bedding in" around the time, with the PM taking advice from different advisers.

Turning to the origins of Covid back in 2020, Hugo Keith KC asks whether by February or March the government was getting on top of the coronavirus problem.

Martin Reynolds talks about a note from the PM which he says assessed the challenges posed by the virus.

"That note seems to be reassuring (that) the system is gripping the challenge in the appropriate way," Reynolds says.

But, he agrees "with the benefit of hindsight we should have been far more vigorously testing our arrangements for what was coming".

Hugo Keith KC continues his questions, clarifying Reynolds' role at the early stage of the pandemic.

This involved keeping Boris Johnson updated and feeding information back to the rest of the government.

Reynolds says he "was not there to give the prime minister advice about Covid".

He adds: "The actual advice for the prime minister came from others."

Reynolds was across key meetings and communications for that period.

Hugo Keith KC says Dominic Cummings, the former adviser to the PM, described Reynolds as shying away from confronting Boris Johnson when needed. But Reynolds says he was clear when he disagreed with him.

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

WhatsApp messages are forming a big part of this second phase of the inquiry.

Martin Reynolds was just asked about a group called 'PM Updates' which appeared to be mainly used for exchanging official information between the Prime Minister and senior civil servants.

By March and April 2021 there were growing calls for a Covid public inquiry; it was officially announced by Boris Johnson in May that year.

On 15 April the inquiry heard that Reynolds turned on the disappearing messages function on a group named PM Updates - meaning that all new messages would disappear from the group seven days after they were sent.

Asked about this in the inquiry, he said he "could not recall" exactly why he turned on the function. He said it "could have been" that he was worried about someone screen-grabbing the exchanges and leaking them to the press.

He said he hadn't turned on the auto-delete function on any of the other WhatsApp groups that he was a member of, and most the messages would have been duplicated in official emails anyway.

This comes after reports that senior politicians from the time in Scotland, including Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, cannot hand over their WhatsApp messages to the inquiry because they have been deleted.