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Scottish minister blames sons watching football for £11,000 iPad roaming bill (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Emperor to c/uk_politics

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Michael Matheson, Scotland’s embattled health secretary, has apologised “unreservedly” after admitting he failed to properly disclose that his sons had largely run up an £11,000 iPad bill which he had initially charged in full to taxpayers.

In a personal statement to MSPs on Thursday, Matheson said he had referred himself for possible investigation by parliament for breaching its code of conduct, as he fought against mounting calls to resign from opposition leaders.

...

Close to tears at several points, Matheson said: “Disclosing this information about my family has been extremely difficult. Mistakes have been made by me and by my family.”

Matheson said one of his sons had helped him set up a hotspot on the iPad in Morocco and told MSPs that parliamentary officials had agreed he could use the iPad as such. A Holyrood spokesperson said it had no record of that being raised or agreed.

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[–] Syldon 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Douglas Ross abstained when it came to voting for a suspension for Owen Paterson who was caught making money with lobbying. It seems he is more party than standards.

As for Matheson, the devil is in the detail in what he knew about the charge before he sent it to an expenses charge.

How did the son get access to a government device?

Did he know the amount of the roaming charge when he sent the bill to his expenses account?

If he gave access to someone for a device that holds GDPR sensitive information or he realised how much he had been charged, then he has no option to resign. I could easily see his son sneaking his password or him handing the bill in without looking at it.

[–] Emperor 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How did the son get access to a government device?

The article says:

Matheson said one of his sons had helped him set up a hotspot on the iPad in Morocco

So it sounds like his kids were his unofficial tech support and would have had access to most easily available things on the device.

[–] Syldon 2 points 1 year ago

Fair game (pun not intended). He has been stupid and should go just for that.