Jack Grey
BBC Wales News

Have four days gone by already? The inquiry calls it a day and that's us done for the week.

Here are some of our biggest takeaways since Monday:

• A health expert says he was "astonished" that, by early March 2020, the Welsh government did not want to treat Covid as a civic emergency
• Mark Drakeford said locking down small areas during the autumn of 2020 was a "failed experiment"
• Covid was not a top priority for the Welsh government in January and February 2020, the former boss of NHS Wales said
• The UK government commissioned a mass Covid testing centre at Cardiff City Stadium without telling the Welsh government or Public Health Wales
• Welsh government ministers weren't sure about their own Covid rules, said former Welsh Secretary Simon Hart - referencing WhatsApp messages the inquiry collected

Thanks for following our coverage and we hope you enjoyed it.

Next week: The big guns.

All of Monday is set aside for pandemic Health Minister Vaughan Gething and on Wednesday Mark Drakeford has all day to conclude the inquiry's visit to Wales - just days before he steps down as first minister.

We'll see you then.

Image source, Getty Images

Hart says that WhatsApp messages collected by the inquiry show that Welsh government ministers weren't sure about their own Covid rules.

"Members of Mark Drakeford's own cabinet were expressing a surprising amount of confusion themselves about what they could do," he says.

"Mark's own team were WhatsApping each other saying ‘I don’t actually fully understand the rules, can anybody tell me?’

"All of that is laid out in some detail in their WhatsApp exchange... there was significant confusion."

Steve Duffy
BBC Wales

Hart says the period in May 2020, when Wales’ Covid rules diverged from England's, was a period of “intense and unpredictable activity”.

"This was always going to be very complex, very contentious and trigger all sorts of political and practical rows," he says.

Hart claims it was “more in sadness than anger” that Wales decided on its own rules and there was little difference in some of the outcomes in terms of the divergence.

"Rather than save lives, I think it caused confusion," he says.

Bethan Lewis
BBC Wales Family & Education Correspondent

The former Welsh secretary says that, if one thing should have been done differently in tackling the pandemic, it would have been acting on a UK-wide basis.

He says he found it "increasingly disturbing" that the pandemic was being dealt with along political boundaries.

However, he states he doesn’t believe there was any complacency in the Welsh government’s response in the early stages of the pandemic.

“Everybody tried to do the right thing at the right time."

Boris Johnson deliberately chose not to personally meet with first ministers of the devolved nations during the pandemic as he thought it would be "optically wrong”, the inquiry hears.

Simon Hart is told the UK's pandemic prime minister previously said he was concerned it would give the impression that the UK was a federal state.

“It made sense at the time, there had to be some kind of structure,“ says Hart.

“If the PM was field marshal and Michael Gove was the general, there needed to be some kind of pyramid that people understood and could refer to.”

In his evidence, First Minister Mark Drakeford said he regarded calls with former UK minister Michael Gove – who chaired meetings with devolved government ministers - as “working well.”

"They worked better than a lot of people anticipated, given there was a wide range of views on our covid response," Hart adds. "It was remarkable they worked as well as they did.”

Image source, Getty Images

We're back after lunch.... and Simon Hart, the current Tory chief whip and UK government's secretary of state for Wales for much of the pandemic, is now on the stand giving evidence.

He was one of several ministers to resign in July 2022 as pressure mounted on then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to step down.

At the time he "desperately hoped" he would not have to resign but saw "no other option", adding that he "of course" he had issues with standards and some things said by the former PM.

Just a few months earlier he said he did not believe lawbreaking, such as Johnson's lockdown breaches, were a "resigning offence".

Hart is the first politician to give evidence to the inquiry during its three week stay in Wales.

Image source, Getty Images

Get the kettle on, the inquiry is breaking for lunch - here's what we've learned so far today:

• First Minister Mark Drakeford was "shocked and dismayed" at a mass Covid test site being built in Cardiff without his knowledge, says his special adviser Jane Runeckles
• Runeckles says the first minister had a "genuine, sincerely held concern" that the actions of the UK government in the early pandemic amounted to a "genuine threat to the future of the United Kingdom"
• Runeckles admitted using her personal WhatsApp for government business and said disappearing messages were used several times
• Head of Welsh government press Toby Mason says TikTok influencers were paid to push Covid messaging to children
• He also claims the Welsh government is not responsible for Covid confusion around different messages from it and the UK government

We'll keep the live page ticking over and be back shortly - this afternoon we're going to hear form former Welsh Secretary Simon Hart.

Image source, Getty Images

Mason is asked about World Health Organization (WHO) guidance issued in early June 2020 that vulnerable people should be wearing medical-grade face masks.

He is shown an email where he acknowledges this was WHO’s guidance – but this information is missing from a subsequent Welsh government press release and the health minister's next briefing.

Mason distances himself from this decision.

"This would have been signed off by Fliss Bennee (head of public health data) and others as being the correct government position," he says.

Mason says he doesn't think the Welsh government bears responsibility for people's confusion around different Covid messages from it and the UK government.

He says "we spoke to the people of Wales" but made sure First Minister Mark Drakeford appeared on UK-wide programmes such as BBC Breakfast and ITV's Good Morning Britain.

He says this was to "educate the London media about what a devolved pandemic would look like".

Image source, Getty Images

Mason says the Welsh government paid TikTok influencers to push Covid messaging to children.

"Children and young people were really important, they don’t necessarily consume news in the way adults do," he says.

"So for that we made quite extensive use of TikTok, which was not a channel we had used as a government much.

"We would take on influencers to carry our public health messaging."

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Next to face the inquiry is Toby Mason, head of press for the Welsh government.

Mason, a former political journalist for BBC Wales, has held his current role since 2014.

He was responsible for all aspects of the Welsh government's communications throughout the pandemic.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Disappearing WhastApp messages were turned on in more than one group at different times during the pandemic, the inquiry hears.

Runeckles herself switched on the auto-delete function, which erases messages after seven days, in a ministerial WhatsApp group featuring Kirsty Williams, Rebecca Evans and Julie James, among others.

Asked why, Runeckles insists she felt "there wasn't any evidence of decision-making in any of these groups".

Baroness Hallett intervened to say it was not just decision-making that should be recorded, but "the importance of keeping records... for public accountability".

In another group, containing Runeckles and Welsh government lawyers, disappearing messages were turned on by another member of the group on 15 June 2021.

The special adviser says she "doesn't know why".

Image source, Getty Images

The inquiry is shown a Welsh government notice informing workers that “personal WhatsApp accounts may not be used for Welsh government business”.

Runeckles says she has confirmed with the civil service that she did not receive this notice, but adds that she recognised she was not allowed to use her personal phone for “Welsh government formal business”.

She says work WhatsApp groups on her personal phone were used for “admin purposes” and “team morale” only.

Baroness Hallett interjects: “Isn’t using your personal phone for admin purposes using it for Welsh government business?”

“Yes,” Runeckles replies.

“So you were using it wrongly?”

“Yes.”

Image source, Getty Images

Runeckles says the first minister had a "genuine, sincerely held concern" that the actions of the UK government in the early pandemic amounted to a "genuine threat to the future of the United Kingdom".

She adds that the contact between Drakeford and Johnson was "infrequent" and the first minister believed that "fissures" within the UK government were "growing, rather than contracting".

Steve Duffy
BBC Wales

Runeckles is asked if there was concern surrounding communication with the UK government during the early stages of the pandemic.

"There was no real notice of when the Cobra meetings [hosted by UK government] were going to happen, what the agenda would be, until very close - sometimes 10-15 mins - before those meetings began.

"The first minster was becoming concerned about the levels of engagement that he felt were necessary due to the urgency of the situation we were in."

She later adds that ministers were still not receiving adequate notice by October 2020.

Image source, Getty Images

Runeckles says First Minister Mark Drakeford was "shocked and dismayed" that consulting firm Deloitte set up a mass Covid testing centre in Cardiff without the Welsh government or Public Health Wales (PHW) being told.

She adds that ministers felt the way in which the NHS works in Wales had not been taken into account by the UK government, which commissioned the site.

On Tuesday, PHW boss Dr Tracey Cooper told the inquiry that the organisation was first made aware of the centre when it received a call from Deloitte telling them it had been built.

She added that, over the course of "four or five days", PHW went from being unaware of the site's existence to staffing and running it.

Earlier this week, inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett commented that the fact the centre had opened without the Welsh government or Public Health Wales being told was "extraordinary".

Runeckles tells the inquiry of a deteriorating relationship with her counterparts in the UK government after frequent contact in the early months of the pandemic.

She says "tensions" due to the differing actions taken by the Welsh and UK government became "more and more obvious" towards the end of May 2020.

"The fact that the Welsh government were taking decisions in a different way to the UK government just meant that there was very little to talk about."

Image source, Covid Inquiry

A hotly anticipated witness, Runeckles is the most senior adviser to First Minister Mark Drakeford, a role she held throughout the pandemic.

Last week the inquiry was told that the “limited” WhatsApp messages it had been provided show “Welsh government senior special advisors suspiciously and systematically deleting communications”.

It heard that Runeckles, in addition to former Health Minister Vaughan Gething, turned on WhatsApp's disappearing messages feature.

It is something Runeckles will be asked to explain today.

There are three witnesses lined up for Thursday, first we're hearing from Jane Runeckles, senior adviser to the first minister, then Toby Mason, Welsh government head of press, and former Welsh secretary Simon Hart.

Runeckles is taking her seat now.

Jack Grey
BBC Wales News

For the final time this week – the inquiry is taking a day off tomorrow – we’ll be bringing you the latest updates on the UK Covid Inquiry.

We had a rapid-fire Wednesday, hearing from a consultant pandemic adviser, union boss, local government leader and senior civil servant.

Here are some things we learned:

• Dr Quentin Sandifer from Public Health Wales says he was "astonished" that, by early March 2020, the Welsh government still did not want to treat Covid as an emergency
• He also described the "frantic" situation at PHW at the start of the pandemic meant it was not always possible to keep proper records

• Shavanah Taj, general secretary of the Wales Trade Union Congress, said the UK government put the Welsh government in an "impossible position" when Wales introduced a firebreak lockdown in late 2020 due to a lack of financial support
• Chris Llewelyn of the Welsh Local Government Association, said local authorities did not feel trusted by the Welsh government early in the pandemic
• Llewelyn added that there was a feeling within the social care workforce that care staff were neglected and not appreciated in the same way as those in the NHS