Health Secretary Michael Matheson blames his kids watching football for £11,000 data roaming charge

Embattled Health Secretary Michael Matheson has claimed his £11,000 data roaming bill was caused by his teenage sons watching football.He said he only discovered the family use of his iPad recently and apologised "unreservedly" to MSPs.The senior SNP MSP, who fought back tears during a Holyrood statement, also said he had referred himself the Holyrood's governing body for a further investigation.Matheson’s future in the SNP Cabinet is unclear over the massive data data charges racked up during a family holiday to Morocco.Around £8,600 worth of the fees were incurred on January 2nd alone, a bank holiday which coincided with a full fixture list of Scottish football matches.He initially refused to pay back a penny from his own pocket and only recently agreed to reimburse Holyrood in full.Matheson also insisted the data use was for “parliamentary” work but he changed his story in a statement to MSPs today.He said he found out last week that his sons had watched football on the iPad and did not reveal this publicly in a bid to protect his family."Last Thursday night, when I returned home, that I was made aware by my wife that other members of our family had made use of the iPad’s data."This was the first I knew that the data had been used by anyone else.

I had previously checked this but the truth only emerged after this story was in the news."He said: "The simple truth is they watched football matches."On Tuesday, I told the First Minster that members of my family had made use of the iPad’s data and yesterday evening, I provided him with a full account of the matter and of my intention to inform parliament."Disclosing this information about our family has been extremely difficult.