THE Health Secretary has said parliamentary authorities have already investigated the data on the iPad on which he racked up an almost £11,000 bill while on holiday.
Michael Matheson faced calls from the opposition to hand over the breakdown of what incurred the £10,935.74 bill from a visit to Morocco around Christmas last year.
We told how Matheson said he would pay back the money in full after the charges were revealed.
It is understood the roaming charges were high as Matheson had failed to change over SIM cards in the device. He had initially offered to pay £3000 of the cost, with the Scottish Parliament covering the rest of the bill.
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The Scottish Tories have called for the Scottish Parliament’s IT department to examine the device so it can be verified that the bill relates “solely to parliamentary and constituency-related work”.
Speaking to reporters at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on Monday, Matheson insisted IT officials at the Scottish Parliament have already looked at the iPad and found there had been no personal use.
Matheson told reporters: “Parliament investigated this issue, keep in mind, back in January, where one of our senior IT officials looked into it and came to a view on this matter.
“That’s why I took the personal decision, as I said in my statement on Friday, that I will reimburse the Parliament for the full costs of that.”
Matheson was then asked if he would hand over his iPad to the parliamentary authorities.
To which he responded: “They investigated the issue back in January.
“They had all the data and everything from it.
“They had access to all of the data on the iPad when they looked at it back in January.”
Matheson accused the Conservatives of “political mischief” over the issue with the iPad, but said: “The issue has already been investigated. I realise they weren’t aware of that.”
He maintained that he would not resign from his position.
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A Scottish Parliament spokesperson, in response to Matheson's comments, said: “We can confirm a senior IT official examined Mr Matheson’s iPad in person at Holyrood to ensure it was functioning properly, which was duly established.
“The official reviewed the iPad’s mobile data settings and data use, but the device does not provide a breakdown of data over a specific timeframe.
“The official observed a cumulative total, which accrues over the lifetime of the device.”
The bill was linked to an “outdated” SIM card in the device, with the Conservatives also demanding to know if 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”.
Scottish Tory chairman Craig 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”.
Hoy said that Matheson's “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”, Hoy (below) added: “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 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.
Hoy added: “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.”
A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “We can confirm a senior IT official examined Mr Matheson’s iPad in person at Holyrood to ensure it was functioning properly, which was duly established.
“The official reviewed the iPad’s mobile data settings and data use, but the device does not provide a breakdown of data over a specific timeframe.
“The official observed a cumulative total, which accrues over the lifetime of the device.”
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