Health secretary agrees to reimburse full cost of iPad roaming charges
The health secretary racked up £11,000 worth of fees
Last updated 10th Nov 2023
Health Secretary Michael Matheson has said he will reimburse the full cost of the nearly £11,000 in data roaming charges he racked up while using a parliamentary iPad on holiday.
The SNP minister had been under pressure as he had only contributed £3,000 from his own expense allowance, with the rest being met by the Scottish Parliament.
He incurred a fee of £10,935.74 during his week-long visit to Morocco around Christmas last year.
He has already told journalists that the bill was brought about by using "an outdated Sim card in an iPad that I had for constituency purposes".
His political opponents called on him to foot the bill himself, after it emerged the Scottish Parliament is to carry out a policy review that will consider if MSPs should be held "personally liable for costs where they have not acted in full accordance with IT office requirements".
Matheson accepts sim card should have been replaced
In a statement on Friday Mr Matheson said he had decided to meet the costs in full.
He said: "I have contacted the Scottish Parliament authorities this afternoon to make arrangements to reimburse the full cost of the £10,935.74 incurred in roaming charges on my parliament iPad.
"While the Parliament agreed to pay the bulk of this sum as a legitimate expense, with the rest being met from my office allowance, I have reflected long and hard and accept that the Sim card on this device should have been replaced at an earlier stage.
Mr Matheson said he took his own reputation, and that of the Scottish Parliament, "extremely seriously".
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: “Michael Matheson has belatedly been shamed into repaying a bill that he had the audacity to expect the taxpayer to foot.
“His arrogance and contempt for the public purse was clear from his refusal to follow parliament guidelines and inform IT staff that he was travelling abroad.
“This is not the end of the matter. Michael Matheson has to address the many serious unanswered questions over this scandal – having notably refused to do so when confronted by journalists on Thursday.
“We still need to hear a personal statement from the health secretary in Parliament and I call on him to publish the original roaming charges statement from the network provider.
“This also calls into question the judgment of Humza Yousaf who, just 24 hours ago, claimed that this was a legitimate expenses claim and that his health secretary shouldn’t repay a penny.”