Matheson challenged to make Holyrood statement on ‘scandal’ of £11K iPad bill

Scotland’s Health Secretary still faces “serious unanswered questions” over an almost £11,000 bill he built up while using his Parliament-issued iPad overseas, the Tories have insisted.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy has demanded Michael Matheson make a statement on the matter to Holyrood, with the Tory MSP insisting that “the public deserve full transparency on the matter”.

While Mr Matheson has already agreed to pay back the bill of £10,935.74 in data roaming charges he racked up during his week-long visit to Morocco around Christmas time last year, the Conservatives also want him to hand over the device to Holyrood’s IT department, so it can be verified that the bill relates “solely to parliamentary and constituency related work”.

The bill was linked to an “outdated” SIM card in the device, with the Conservatives also demanding to know if Mr Matheson still has the iPad and whether he will make public all correspondence from Parliament “on the expensing of the roaming charges and regarding the need to upgrade the iPad’s SIM card”.

Mr Hoy urged the Health Secretary to set out what steps he had taken to “protect public money and keep costs low, in line with the value for money requirements set out in the official expenses policy”.

The Scottish Conservative chairman told Mr Matheson that his “belated commitment to pay for these roaming charges in full should not distract from the fact that such a large bill does not represent value for money for the taxpayer”.

Stressing it is “important that these key questions are answered”, Mr Hoy told the Health Secretary: “If you refuse to disclose this information, it will be clear that you have something to hide and are covering up the truth from taxpayers about how you spent their money.”

The challenge came after Mr Matheson confirmed on Friday that he would “reimburse the full cost of the £10,935.74 incurred in roaming charges on my parliament iPad”.

Speaking then, the Health Secretary said while the Parliament had agreed to pay “the bulk of this sum as a legitimate expense” with part of the cost coming from his Holyrood office allowance, he had reflected “long and hard” on the matter.

Adding that the SIM card on the device “should have been replaced at an earlier stage”, he said he would pay back the entire sum.

However, Mr Hoy said: “When Michael Matheson was belatedly shamed into repaying the staggering sum that he had the audacity to expect the taxpayer to foot, he told us that his integrity matters.

“Therefore, he must immediately hand over his iPad so that Parliament authorities can verify his claim that he only incurred roaming charges related to parliamentary business during his Moroccan holiday.”

The Tory said: “Mr Matheson has many serious unanswered questions to address, which is why I have written to him requesting that he make a statement at Holyrood this week so that we can get to the bottom of this scandal.

“A failure to answer these questions will further add to the public’s suspicion that Michael Matheson has something to hide over this scandal.”