16 November 2023 , 20:39
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A minister who racked up a £11,000 roaming bill on his taxpayer-funded iPad while on holiday has claimed the huge cost was caused by his teenage sons watching football.
SNP Health Secretary Michael Matheson said he only discovered the family use of his iPad recently and apologised "unreservedly" to MSPs. The minister, who fought back tears during a Holyrood statement, faced critics after the huge bill came to light following a family trip to Morocco.
It emerged that £8,600 of it was built up on a single day, January 2, when Celtic played Rangers back in Scotland. The minister initially refused to pay back a penny from his own pocket and only recently agreed to reimburse Holyrood in full.
The minister fought back tears in Parliament (Getty Images)
He refused to stand down as Health Secretary (PA)Matheson also insisted the data use was for "parliamentary" work but he changed his story in a statement to MSPs today. He said he found out last week that his sons had watched football on the iPad and did not reveal this publicly in a bid to protect his family, reports the Daily Record.
He said: "Last Thursday night, when I returned home, that I was made aware by my wife that other members of our family had made use of the iPad's data. This was the first I knew that the data had been used by anyone else. I had previously checked this but the truth only emerged after this story was in the news."
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He said: "The simple truth is they watched football matches. On Tuesday, I told the First Minster that members of my family had made use of the iPad's data and yesterday evening, I provided him with a full account of the matter and of my intention to inform parliament.
"Disclosing this information about our family has been extremely difficult. Mistakes have been made by me, by my family." He added: "In my statement issued last Friday I made no reference to the use of data by my family.
"As a parent, I wanted to protect them from being part of the political and media scrutiny associated with this, something I believe any parent would want to do. I am a father first and foremost. That was a mistake and I am sorry."
He said when the Parliament first alerted him to the roaming charges it could not be established how the cost had arisen. He repeated that an out-of-date sim card had generated the data costs and he was wrong not to flag up the holiday in advance to the Parliament: "Mistakes have been made in the way I have handled this. I should have sorted the SIM card.
"And, I should have investigated what happened more thoroughly. I accept that, take full responsibility and apologise unreservedly. That is why the costs have now been fully reimbursed to Parliament." Speaking to reporters in Holyrood after his statement, Matheson insisted he would not resign from his job as Health Secretary.
"I intend to continue my work as MSP for Falkirk West and also to take on the considerable responsibilities as Health Secretary," he added. Asked if he watched the football matches which racked up the data roaming charges, he said: "I didn't watch the football and I didn't know the football was being watched either."