Michael Matheson iPad probe findings to be revealed in January

Holyrood officials have published the remit of their investigation into the health secretary’s expense claim for an £11,000 iPad roaming bill while on a family holiday.

Michael Matheson racked up the charge while in Morocco last year and initially billed the taxpayer for it before paying it himself once the story broke.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has launched a probe into Matheson’s conduct and whether he was right to bill the public purse for the expense.

It will investigate whether the expense claim by the SNP minister falls within parliamentary guidelines as well as the Code of Conduct for MSPs.

It will not examine claims from opposition parties that Matheson misled the parliament, journalists and the public over when and what he knew about the roaming bill.

“The SPCB acknowledged the public interest in this matter and the need to maintain the integrity of the Scheme and the application of SPCB policies,” the parliamentary body said.

“In the interest of fairness to all, the SPCB was keen to progress its investigation expeditiously.”

Officials expect their preliminary findings are expected to be revealed in January.

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The probe will be conducted through written submission and Matheson will be able to look at a draft before it is published and raise any concerns.

It’s not known when the final report will be released.

Matheson had previously said that the iPad was used solely for constituency work while he was on holiday.

But Holyrood IT experts later confirmed he had used 6GB of data over a few days.

In an emotional speech to MSPs, he admitted that his sons had used it to watch football. He said he had only found out about this the week prior.

But days after finding out that his kids used the device he told journalists that it was only used for work purposes.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has resisted repeated calls from the Scottish Tories for the health secretary to resign.

A poll for STV News last week found a majority of Scots, including SNP voters, think Mahteson should quit.

Politics

Majority of Scots think Matheson should resign over £11,000 iPad data bill

New poll by Ipsos’ Scottish Political Monitor – run in partnership with STV News – finds 61% of population want the health secretary to step down.

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