A Scottish government minister has agreed to pay back almost £11,000 after racking up a hefty data roaming bill on his parliamentary iPad while on a family holiday in Morocco.
Health Secretary Michael Matheson was said to have been using the device for work but had not switched over from the parliament’s old mobile contract to a new one.
The roaming charges – for the iPad and not phone calls – totalled £10,935.74.
Officials at Holyrood challenged the bill over the scale of the data fees and the late warning over the rising cost, but previous provider EE declined to waive it.
Mr Matheson agreed to pay £3,000 towards the cost from his expenses budget. As the data use was reportedly for parliamentary business, the Scottish parliament agreed to pay the rest.
The incident sparked a public outcry, with both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives calling for Mr Matheson to foot the “eye-watering bill” instead of taxpayers. The Tories branded the cost “absolutely scandalous”.
Mr Matheson, who as the cabinet secretary for NHS recovery, health and social care has an annual salary of £118,511, said on Friday afternoon: “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.
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“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.
“Much of the speculation in the past couple of days has questioned my integrity, and I take this extremely seriously.
“I take equally seriously the reputation of the Scottish parliament, of which I have always striven to be a diligent member since its restoration in 1999.
“It is my decision to reimburse these costs in full, which I believe in all the circumstances to be the right one.”
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The MSP added that he had an important role as health secretary, and in the coming months it will be “challenging for our health service”.
He added: “I am determined to be fully focused on taking forward these responsibilities, and I assure the people of Falkirk West and across Scotland that their concerns are my priorities.”
Craig Hoy, chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, said it was “not the end of the matter”,
The MSP stated: “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.”
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Roaming charges are incurred abroad when a mobile device connects outside of its home network rather than to WiFi.
Mr Matheson took the iPad with him on a week-long visit to Morocco with his family around Christmas last year.
The Falkirk West MSP was the net zero, energy and transport secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government at the time.
He was appointed health secretary earlier this year under First Minister Humza Yousaf.
A Scottish parliament spokesperson said Mr Matheson’s data charges were investigated by the parliamentary IT office in January, reviewing the data volume consumed, daily pricing charges and the company’s application of tariffs.
The investigation also confirmed he had not updated his iPad’s SIM card to the new provider as required, and did not notify the IT office before travelling, meaning the appropriate roaming package could not be applied.
They added: “At the conclusion of the investigation, senior officials accepted Mr Matheson’s assurances that all costs incurred were for parliamentary purposes.”
The Scottish parliament said the incident triggered a policy review of data usage, which will consider the “potential for members to be personally liable for costs where they have not acted in full accordance with IT office requirements”.
The review is expected to be complete by the end of March 2024.
