Senior SNP minister Michael Matheson to be investigated over £11,000 iPad bill

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body confirmed it will launch a probe

Michael Matheson has said he will “fully co-operate” as it was confirmed he would be investigated over an £11,000 data roaming bill racked up on his Holyrood-issued iPad.

It comes as both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister repeatedly refused to say whether the health secretary had told the truth during the scandal.

Humza Yousaf continued to publicly back his ally at First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) on Thursday, but faced a difficult day as he attempted to defend Mr Matheson’s incorrect statements to the press.

Prior to FMQs, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) confirmed it would launch a probe into Mr Matheson’s conduct and would seek to conclude this “promptly”.

Mr Matheson welcomed the investigation, saying: “Of course I’ll fully co-operate with their investigation and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment further.”

The senior minister had revealed last week in an emotional statement to MSPs that his teenage sons had used the device as a hotspot so they could watch football while on a family holiday to Morocco.

The bill for the data roaming charges was initially paid by the public purse, but Mr Matheson reimbursed the Scottish Parliament after learning what happened when the row first erupted two weeks ago.

But he failed to publicly mention his sons’ involvement until Thursday last week, initially blaming an outdated Sim card in the device for the high costs, and insisting he had only used the iPad for parliamentary work.

This has led to questions being asked about whether Mr Matheson misled both journalists and the public over the matter. He said he initially chose not to mention his children to protect his family.

Mr Matheson referred himself to the SPCB, a cross-party group of MSPs that oversees the running of the Scottish Parliament, last week.

A spokesperson for the SPCB said: “The SPCB met this morning to consider its next steps with regard to Michael Matheson’s statement to Parliament last week.

“While, as previously made clear, there is no mechanism for members to self-refer to the SPCB, the corporate body has a vital interest in the integrity of the Members’ Expenses Scheme, the principle that SPCB funded resources are used for parliamentary purposes and that there is public confidence in these matters.

“The corporate body will therefore undertake an investigation in line with its duties under the MSP Code of Conduct. The investigation will consider whether the claims for £11,000 of public money, incurred through data roaming charges, were proper and met the requirements of the scheme and whether resources were used for parliamentary purposes in accordance with all SPCB policies.

“The SPCB will seek to conclude its investigation promptly and its findings in fact, will be published. Depending on those findings, there may be a number of options open to the SPCB, as set out in section nine of the Code of Conduct, including referral to the SPPA committee.

“In the interest of fairness to all, and to avoid prejudicing its investigation, the SPCB will, as of now, not comment on any matters that could have a bearing on this process or provide a running commentary.

“It is important to stress, however, that the corporate body remains wholly committed to openness and transparency and will release all material it can, when it can, in line with its legal obligations.”

Asked questions as he left the Holyrood chamber, Mr Matheson said: “I welcome the decision by the corporate body, which follows on my writing to them last week asking them to investigate this matter.”

He refused to answer questions on whether he was a liar.

Earlier during FMQs, Mr Yousaf accepted Mr Matheson had “absolutely” made mistakes in his handling of the matter. But the First Minister went on to accuse the Scottish Conservatives of “hypocrisy” in calling for Mr Matheson to be sacked.

Tory leader Douglas Ross used the weekly Holyrood clash to accuse Mr Matheson of trying “to dupe the taxpayer out of £11,000”. But Mr Yousaf insisted it was an “honest mistake”, though he said it was “right” the SPCB should “get on with the job”.

He also attacked Mr Ross, highlighting the Tory leader previously had to apologise after failing to declare £28,000 in earnings.

Mr Yousaf said: “The point here is we didn’t call for Douglas Ross to quit. We accepted the point that he had made an honest mistake. The hypocrisy here that people will see through is Douglas Ross says it is fine for him to make an honest mistake, but not for Michael Matheson to make an honest mistake.”

The First Minister branded that “political opportunism” by Mr Ross, who had for the second week challenged him over Mr Matheson’s iPad expenses claim.

Mr Ross pressed Mr Yousaf on whether the health secretary had been “telling the truth” when he repeatedly denied there had been any personal use of his iPad. He added: “If Government ministers need to be honest, why is Michael Matheson still in a job?”

Mr Yousaf replied: “Michael Matheson accepts and admitted to this chamber that he made mistakes in the handling. He did what he did to protect his teenage boys.

“Did he make mistakes? Absolutely. Has he admitted that? Absolutely. Has he agreed to pay back the full amount? Absolutely.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the SNP were “running out of road”.

He said: “Scottish Labour has long called for a 'Clean Up Holyrood Act' to sweep away the culture of secrecy and cover-up the SNP have allowed to thrive. The [Alex] Salmond inquiry, the ferry scandal, the failures at the Queen Elizabeth in Glasgow and the Sick Kids in Edinburgh, deleting Covid WhatsApps and the Deputy First Minister now saying they only ‘aim’ to tell the truth.

“Under the SNP trust and faith in Scotland's institutions has been lost. This is a Government that is running out of road, desperate to save their jobs and willing to say anything to cling on to power.”