Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

SNP health chief Michael Matheson blames sons watching football for £11k Morocco bill on official iPad

The SNP MSP U-turned in an emotional apology after previously claiming the device had only been used for parliamentary work.

The SNP MSP U-turned in an emotional apology after previously claiming the device had only been used for parliamentary work.

Scotland’s health chief Michael Matheson blamed his teenage sons watching football while on holiday in Morocco for an £11,000 bill in data roaming charges on his official iPad.

The SNP MSP U-turned after previously claiming the device had only been used for parliamentary work during a trip abroad with his family shortly after Christmas last year.

Making a statement in Holyrood, Mr Matheson said he had wanted to “protect” his children from the “political and media scrutiny”.

But in an emotional apology he admitted this had been a “mistake” and confessed it was only possible to explain the eye-watering charges by clarifying their role.

The health secretary said he only became aware his sons had used the iPad to watch football last Thursday, after the scandal had erupted.

The health secretary admitted he was responsible for the error. Image: PA.

He said: “I had previously checked this but the truth only emerged after this story was in the news.”

Mr Matheson added that he “should have pressed harder” about family use of the iPad, but took responsibility for the costs incurred.

The health secretary and his wife immediately decided to reimburse the Scottish Parliament “for the full cost” at that point.

He admitted the huge bill had come about as a result of him failing to update the SIM card to Holyrood’s new contract provider before travelling abroad.

And he added that he should have notified parliamentary staff he was taking the iPad with him before making the trip to Morocco.

Mr Matheson insisted he has no plans to quit his ministerial role despite calls from political rivals to stand down.

He also said he had not watched any football matches on the devices on January 2, when the largest sum of the roaming charges were incurred.

Conversation