Inquiry demanded after taxpayers foot Michael Matheson's £11,000 roaming charges bill

A full investigation is being demanded after a senior Scottish Government minister racked up £11,000 in roaming costs on his parliamentary iPad while on holiday in Morocco.

Health secretary Michael Matheson said he used the device for constituency work, but was hit with the mammoth bill as he had not switched over to the Parliament’s current mobile contract.

Mr Matheson has since agreed to pay £3,000 towards the bill from his expenses budget, but the Parliament will cough up for the rest of the bill from its own budget.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy is now demanding a full inquiry, claiming the bill equates to “£65 an hour, 24 hours a day, for the seven days he was on holiday in far-flung Morocco”.

Mr Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, had been using a sim card from the Parliament’s previous provider EE during the week-long holiday with his family in Christmas last year. The current contract is with Vodafone.

There were chaotic scenes outside the Holyrood debating chamber after First Minister’s Questions on Thursday as journalists tried to question Mr Matheson on the bill.

He said: “As is clearly explained, it was caused by an outdated sim card in an iPad I had for constituency purposes, which was a parliamentary iPad, which hadn’t been replaced.

“I wasn’t aware it hadn’t been replaced, and the cost went up as a result of that. As has been clearly stated, the network provider didn’t provide any information around the cost going up – that is something that was unknown to me.

“As Parliament has also confirmed, this was a parliamentary iPad used for constituency purposes.”

Mr Matheson refused to answer any more questions from journalists. Officials had tried to challenge the £10,935.74 bill, but EE declined to waive any of the charges.

First Minister Humza Yousaf was asked if Mr Matheson should repay the money himself.

Mr Yousaf said: “No, the parliamentary authorities have already confirmed, of course, that it was a legitimate parliamentary expense.”

Mr Hoy is now urging Holyrood’s Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone to open an inquiry as the bill was “picked up entirely by the taxpayer”.

He said: “It was reported that an MSP in this chamber racked up a bill of £11,000 through data roaming charges whilst on holiday, a tab that has been picked up entirely by the taxpayer.

“For clarity that is £65 an hour, 24 hours a day, for the seven days he was on holiday in far-flung Morocco. This incident has damaged the reputation of the Scottish Parliament and it is incumbent on you, Presiding Officer, to repair and defend this.

“I urge you to conduct a full investigation into this matter, including publishing the full bill that was incurred by Mr Matheson, to explore why the Parliament has appeared to break its own rules of a cap of £200 on roaming charges by paying the bill entirely, and exploring whether Mr Matheson himself has broken any parliamentary rules by claiming for such a large sum.”

Ms Johnston asked Mr Hoy to write to her directly and said she would provide him with a response.

The First Minister’s spokesman also told journalists he had spoken to Mr Matheson about the matter, and added they were not aware if the bill was caused by watching Netflix videos.