SNP’s Michael Matheson, health secretary of Scotland, apologises after initially charging bill to Holyrood

Michael Matheson, Scotland’s embattled health secretary, has apologised “unreservedly” after admitting he failed to properly disclose that his sons had largely run up an £11,000 iPad bill which he had initially charged in full to taxpayers.

In a personal statement to MSPs on Thursday, Matheson said he had referred himself for possible investigation by parliament for breaching its code of conduct, as he fought against mounting calls to resign from opposition leaders.

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Close to tears at several points, Matheson said: “Disclosing this information about my family has been extremely difficult. Mistakes have been made by me and by my family.”

Matheson said one of his sons had helped him set up a hotspot on the iPad in Morocco and told MSPs that parliamentary officials had agreed he could use the iPad as such. A Holyrood spokesperson said it had no record of that being raised or agreed.

    • @mannycalavera@feddit.uk
      4•1 year ago

      also, dont bother with marrakesh, cant recommend it at all

      We went a few years ago and loved it. So much culture to see and only a short distance to the Atlas Mountains. We meet some great people, the locals were extremely welcoming to us. Oh and the food! Wow.

      What didn’t you like about it?

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    3•1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Michael Matheson, Scotland’s embattled health secretary, has apologised “unreservedly” after admitting he failed to properly disclose that his sons had largely run up an £11,000 iPad bill which he had initially charged in full to taxpayers.

    In a personal statement to MSPs on Thursday, Matheson said he had referred himself for possible investigation by parliament for breaching its code of conduct, as he fought against mounting calls to resign from opposition leaders.

    During first minister’s questions on Thursday, Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, called on Matheson to quit, and came as close as parliamentary rules allowed to accuse the health secretary of lying to MSPs.

    The scandal erupted last week after it emerged that he had racked up a £10,935 data bill on his parliamentary iPad during a week-long Christmas holiday in Morocco, and refused to explain why.

    Matheson told MSPs he had learned from his wife the previous evening – the day the row first blew up – that his sons had used parliamentary data to watch football.

    Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said the saga raised “serious questions” about their judgment, in part because Matheson’s attention had been diverted from tackling NHS Scotland’s numerous crises.

    The original article contains 620 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @Syldon@feddit.ukEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Douglas Ross abstained when it came to voting for a suspension for Owen Paterson who was caught making money with lobbying. It seems he is more party than standards.

    As for Matheson, the devil is in the detail in what he knew about the charge before he sent it to an expenses charge.

    How did the son get access to a government device?

    Did he know the amount of the roaming charge when he sent the bill to his expenses account?

    If he gave access to someone for a device that holds GDPR sensitive information or he realised how much he had been charged, then he has no option to resign. I could easily see his son sneaking his password or him handing the bill in without looking at it.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      How did the son get access to a government device?

      The article says:

      Matheson said one of his sons had helped him set up a hotspot on the iPad in Morocco

      So it sounds like his kids were his unofficial tech support and would have had access to most easily available things on the device.