Swinney says he has confidence in Gray after second apology over football trips

John Swinney has said he still has confidence in his Health Secretary following his second apology to Parliament over the row around his free trips to football games.

The First Minister defended Neil Gray a day after he apologised to MSPs for making an “inadvertent error” in his remarks to Holyrood on whether notes were taken on the trips.

Opposition MSPs had accused the minister of potentially misleading Parliament when he said that minutes were taken at all of the meetings he held at football stadiums.

He said: “Despite being clear earlier in the session that I would need to check, I recognise that I asserted that there would be summaries available for all engagements.

“It has since come to light that this is incorrect and I am sorry for that inadvertent error.”

It’ is the second time Mr Gray has issued an apology to the Scottish Parliament around the row over his use of taxpayer limos to watch Aberdeen – the team he supports – and the Scotland national team.

In November, Mr Gray said it was legitimate for ministers to attend sporting events and he will continue to do so.

However, he apologised after admitting he had given the impression of “acting more as a fan and less as a minister” and should have “attended a wider range of games”.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday after a speech at JP Morgan in Glasgow, the First Minister was asked whether he still had confidence in his Health Secretary.

“Yes,” he said.

Mr Swinney had previously said he considered the matter “closed”.

Asked if he was wrong to say that, Mr Swinney said: “Neil explained to Parliament one specific, detailed point, which was in one of his answers to Parliament that was not consistent with two other points that he made during that statement.

“So I think for me, the content of the issue hasn’t really changed since Neil made his parliamentary statement.”

The SNP leader said “the substance of it hasn’t really changed”.

He added: “In the course of the statement he had set out the accurate position twice and then on the third occasion he just had one word too many, and the word was ‘all’.

In an urgent question at Holyrood later on Wednesday, Tory MSP Stephen Kerr asked whether Mr Gray corrected his statement “at the earliest opportunity as required by the Scottish ministerial code”.

Jamie Hepburn, the minister for parliamentary business, said the Health Secretary corrected the record on the same day the opposition had raised a point of order about it.

A freedom of information request on December 13 showed Mr Gray attended several events where no summaries were taken.

But the minister did not correct his previous assertion unit January 21.

Mr Kerr said: “There can be no doubt that Neil Gray knew months ago that he had misled Parliament.

“He had clearly violated the ministerial code. It’s black and white.

“So does the minister accept that this is a violation of the ministerial code? ”

Mr Hepburn said: “Let’s make sure the record in this instance is accurate.

“Mr Gray was not forced to come and apologize. Mr Gray willingly came forward to acknowledge the inadvertent error he made, of course, in releasing the information.”

Mr Kerr said: “Mr Gray would never have come to this chamber to make a statement if we hadn’t raised it as a point of order earlier in the day.

“And the fact is, the FOI shows that he knew months ago he had misled this parliament and took no steps whatsoever to correct the record.

“It is clear that Neil Gray has broken the ministerial code.”