Michael Matheson: Scotland's health secretary blames £11,000 iPad roaming charge on sons watching football

Michael Matheson has admitted his sons used his parliamentary iPad data to watch football matches amid a public outcry over racking up nearly £11,000 in roaming fees during a holiday.

Scotland's health secretary apologised during a personal statement to Holyrood on Thursday.

He claimed his wife told him their teenage sons had been streaming football in Morocco after reports of the bill emerged in the media last week.

Mr Matheson said: "It [was] at this point 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 data.

"This was the first I knew that the data had been used by anyone else.

"I previously checked this, but the truth only emerged after this story was in the news. I should have pressed harder, perhaps I should have been less willing to believe what I had been told.

"Presiding Officer, I need to be very clear with you and colleagues today.

"The responsibility for the iPad is mine, the responsibility for the data usage is mine.

"That is why my wife and I made the immediate decision to reimburse the parliament the full cost."

Under questioning, Mr Matheson said the iPad itself had not been used by his children, but rather been used as a hotspot to allow internet access for other devices.

Mr Matheson has referred himself to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body so it can investigate the matter.

The Falkirk West MSP came under fire for billing the taxpayer after running up the eye-watering invoice on the device during the family holiday with his wife and two sons last winter.

Mr Matheson initially agreed to pay £3,000 towards the cost from his expenses budget, with the rest covered by the Scottish parliament after claiming it was used for constituency work.

He then U-turned and agreed to foot the whole bill from his own pocket after it emerged last week that he had failed to switch over from Holyrood's old mobile contract to a new one which had led to the excessive charges due to the outdated SIM card.

Mr Matheson stated the matter had been investigated by parliamentary authorities.

However, the device's browsing history had not been checked which led to the Scottish Tories threatening to table a vote of no confidence.

Mr Matheson said he told First Minister Humza Yousaf on Tuesday that his family had made use of the iPad's data.

On Wednesday, Mr Yousaf gave his backing to Mr Matheson and said the "matter is now closed".

Later in the day, Mr Matheson then provided the first minister with a "full account" of what had happened.

During First Minister's Questions on Thursday, the first minister admitted "there is clearly more to it" ahead of Mr Matheson's statement to the Scottish parliament.

A breakdown of the data usage between 28 December 2022 and 3 January 2023 emerged via a freedom of information (FOI) request, which showed Mr Matheson was billed thousands of pounds in one day - more than £7,000 on 2 January for one of two separate entries for the day.

Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser suggested the charges could have been related to a Rangers and Celtic game.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he said: "I'm sure it's just a coincidence that there was an Old Firm match on 2 January."

Breakdown of the bill:
28 December 2022: 1.26GB - £2,249.17
30 December 2022: 68.70MB - £0
31 December 2022: 505.67MB - £20.17
2 January 2023: 710.89MB - £1,320.71
2 January 2023: 3.18GB - £7,345.69
3 January 2023: 392.66 MB - £6

Mr Matheson choked back tears as he accepted that "mistakes" had been made by both himself and his family.

He said: "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 my family 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. I can see now that it just [isn't] possible to explain the data usage without explaining their role.

"Presiding Officer, the simple truth is they were watching football matches."

Speaking to journalists after his statement, Mr Matheson denied watching the football games and said he had not offered his resignation to the first minister.

Responding to Mr Matheson's apology, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the health secretary had "failed" to be honest.

He added: "When he submitted this claim, Michael Matheson must have known it was false. But when the claim was questioned by parliament, he insisted it was legitimate. He gave the parliament written assurances it was legitimate.

"That promise has been broken. Parliament has been misled.

"The new excuses we have just heard are not credible. Michael Matheson said he could not understand why the data charges were so high, yet he didn't question how they were racked up. The two stories do not add up. How could he claim for data that he couldn't account for?

"The health secretary had many opportunities to be honest. He chose the opposite approach until he ran out of road. He kept on insisting it was legitimate even after he supposedly knew for certain that it wasn't.

"The apology today doesn't make up for his false £11,000 claim - and Michael Matheson and Humza Yousaf still have many questions to answer."