Scottish Health minister spends £11,000 as roaming charges on his government issued ipad

While vacationing in Morocco with his family, a Scottish government minister amassed data roaming charges of nearly £11,000 on his government issued iPad.

It was reported that Michael Matheson, the current health secretary for Scotland, was using the gadget for work purposes but had not moved from the parliament’s old mobile contract to a new one.

The Scottish parliament verified that Matheson spent £10,935.74 on roaming fees—for the iPad, not phone calls.

The bill was contested by Holyrood officials due to the amount of data fees and the delayed notice of the escalating costs; however, the former provider, EE, refused to waive it.

Matheson consented to use his expenses budget of £3,000 to help cover the cost. The Scottish parliament agreed to cover the remaining costs since the data use was purportedly for parliamentary business.

Both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives want Matheson to pay the “eye-watering” bill rather than tax payers; the Tories have called the price “absolutely scandalous”.

“Matheson incurred significant roaming charges on his parliamentary iPad while in Morocco at the beginning of this year,” a spokesman for the Scottish parliament stated.

“The member paid substantial data fees over and above the parliament’s’rest of the world’ tariff rate because he was still using the previous mobile provider and hadn’t yet moved to our current contract.

“The company refused to comply with or waive any of the charges after the parliament questioned it about the size of the data fees, which came to £10,935.74, and the late notice of the rising costs.

“On the basis that the member has assured the parliament that these costs were incurred in relation to parliamentary business and not for personal or government use, we agreed that Mr Matheson would contribute £3,000 from his office cost provision and the remainder would be paid centrally by the parliament.”

Around Christmas of last year, Mr. Matheson and his family went on a week-long trip to Morocco, and he brought the iPad along.

Nicola Sturgeon’s net zero, energy, and transport secretary at the time was the Falkirk West MSP.

Since then, he has been First Minister Humza Yousaf’s health secretary.