Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
- Published
Mr Matheson said the roaming charges were caused by his sons watching football.
Health Secretary Michael Matheson has admitted an £11,000 data roaming charge on his iPad was caused by his sons watching football.
The bill was incurred during a family trip to Morocco last year.
The expense was initially picked up by the Scottish Parliament, which was told by Mr Matheson that the iPad was only used for work.
He has since paid the money back and said he had referred himself to the parliament for further investigation.
Mr Matheson - who was visibly emotional during a statement to parliament - told MSPs he was not aware that other family members had used the device until last Thursday, after the first media reports about the charges emerged.
He said the iPad itself had not been used by his children but had been used as a hotspot to allow internet access for other devices.
The health secretary said he did not mention this in his statement on Friday, in which he announced he would pay the bill himself, because he wanted to protect his children.
He apologised unreservedly to the parliament and said the responsibility for the data usage and iPad was his.
Mr Matheson went on holiday with his wife and two sons shortly after Christmas last year.
First Minister Humza Yousaf has previously said there was no reason for Mr Matheson to pay the £11,000 bill himself
"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," he told MSPs.
He said he was "a father first and foremost", adding that it was wrong not to reference his sons using the iPad data.
"That was a mistake and I am sorry," he continued.
"I can see now that it just isn't possible to explain the data usage without explaining their role."
He added: "The simple truth is they watched football matches."
Mr Matheson said he did not watch the football, nor did he know it was being watched by his sons.
He told MSPs he had been advised that he could use the iPad as a mobile hotspot and that his son helped to set it up.
The Scottish Parliament confirmed that Mr Matheson had contacted officials on 28 December about his phone not working in Morocco, but said its records did not "show any discussion of his iPad".
On Monday, the health secretary denied that there had been any personal use of his iPad.
In his statement to MSPs on Thursday, he said he would refer himself for investigation to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, but would not stand down as health secretary.
The minister said when he was initially informed about the bill in January, he could not understand why it was so high.
In the absence of a "clear explanation", he said he thought it was appropriate when he agreed in March that he would contribute £3,000 from his office expenses, with the rest to be paid by parliament.
The data charges, including more than £7,000 on 2 January - when Celtic were playing Rangers - were incurred for using more than 6GB of data on the parliamentary device between 28 December 2022 and 3 January 2023.
A Sim card in the device should have been changed after parliament officials switched a mobile contract from EE to Vodafone in December 2021.
But Mr Matheson failed to replace the Sim despite being told to do so almost a year before his holiday.
The Scottish Conservatives have called for the health secretary to be sacked, and are expected to call a motion of no confidence. The government would be expected to defeat it due to an SNP-Green majority in parliament.
'Cover-up'
Tory leader Douglas Ross said parliament had been misled by Mr Matheson, who initially told Holyrood officials that his expense claim for the iPad data usage was for legitimate parliamentary work.
Mr Ross told BBC Scotland News: "So if it was a legitimate expense, yet he was also saying he didn't know how that data had been accrued, then he misled parliament."
He added: "If Michael Matheson is a man of integrity, as he says he is, he will resign."
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario, but "what people will not understand is the cover-up".
She said Mr Matheson had been "wholly negligent" not to replace his device's Sim card, and not to keep it secure from being used by others.
"It is simply unfathomable that Michael Matheson thinks he can keep his job after deceiving the public and parliament over his actions," she added.
It was an emotional statement from Michael Matheson revealing that his sons were using his iPad as a hotspot to stream football.
That explains how he was able to run up £11,000 in data roaming charges on his family holiday to Morocco over New Year.
It does not explain the security arrangements for his Holyrood iPad.
Nor does it explain how he convinced himself he could have done that volume of constituency work in order to claim it as a legitimate parliamentary expense.
Mr Matheson has told us his family only fessed up last Thursday which is why he offered to pay back the full amount the following day.
However, he was still denying there had been "personal" use of the iPad to reporters on Monday.
Mr Matheson has made clear he was trying to protect his family - an instinct many of his MSP colleagues will understand.
The problem is he has now admitted concealing the truth because he thought that was justified and that could undermine trust in a politician who is supposed to lead the NHS through a difficult winter.
At First Minister's Questions earlier on Thursday, Humza Yousaf said he had "absolute confidence" in Mr Matheson, who he described as a man of "honesty and integrity".
Mr Yousaf had initially described the £11,000 iPad bill as a "legitimate parliamentary expense" and said Mr Matheson should not have to pay it out of his own pocket.
The health secretary cancelled a planned visit to a Glasgow health centre after parliament published a breakdown of the data usage. A spokesperson said it would be rescheduled for a future date.
Tory MSPs had pointed out, external that the day Mr Matheson was billed £7,346 - on 2 January for using 3.18GB - coincided with an Old Firm football match.
A further £1,320 charge was listed as a separate entry for 2 January. It is not yet known if the fee could relate to a previous day due to a lag effect in the billing system but there is no figure listed for 1 January.
The next largest fee was on 28 December 2022, when the minster was charged £2,249 for using 1.26GB. A match between Hibernian and Celtic was played that day.
According to Netflix, external, 6GB of data can be used to watch about 36 hours of streaming while on a data-saving mode.
On the highest possible streaming quality, 6GB would only provide about 120 minutes of streaming, depending on the device and network speed.
The parliament said that after the bill was received earlier in the year, IT officials checked the iPad to see if it was working. They also examined the mobile data usage, but were only presented with a cumulative total and did not see the browsing history.
The presiding officer confirmed parliament had ordered a review into its data roaming and mobile devices rules to "ensure the present situation cannot happen again".
- Published17 November 2023
