Connect with us

Published

on

MSP Michael Matheson is to be suspended from Holyrood for 27 sitting days and lose his salary for 54 days over his £11,000 iPad data roaming bill.

Mr Matheson was sanctioned by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee on Thursday.

The decision will now go before MSPs for approval.

It comes after the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) concluded in March that he had breached the MSP code of conduct.

The Falkirk West SNP MSP stood down as Scotland’s health secretary in February, citing the SPCB investigation as the reason.

More on Snp

SNP's Michael Matheson in the Garden Lobby after First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday May 16, 2024.
Image:
Mr Matheson at Holyrood last week. Pic: PA

A ban of 10 days or more would be enough to trigger a recall petition in Westminster, however the Scottish parliament has no such mechanism.

Labour MSP Martin Whitfield, the committee convener, said the sanctions reflected the seriousness of the breach.

He said: “Had it not been for mitigatory factors, including the impact on the member and his family, the sanctions proposed would likely have been greater.”

The committee was unanimous in recommending the withdrawal of salary for 54 days.

The suspension of 27 sitting days was recommended by committee member MSP Annie Wells and supported by Conservative colleague Oliver Mundell.

SNP members Jackie Dunbar and Alasdair Allan disagreed, with the deciding vote made by convener Mr Whitfield.

Mr Whitfield said: “I did not cast my vote on a personal view. But in my capacity as convenor, I recognise that the committee would otherwise not have been in a position to make a recommendation.

“I supported the proposal for an exclusion of a period of 27 sitting days.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

November 2023: Mr Matheson’s sons racked up the £11,000 iPad bill

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

SPCB launched an investigation in November after Mr Matheson took the parliamentary iPad with him on a week-long visit to Morocco with his family around Christmas in 2022.

His roaming charges for the iPad – not phone calls – totalled nearly £11,000 and were initially paid for by taxpayers after Mr Matheson claimed he racked up the eye-watering invoice undertaking constituency work during the trip.

Mr Matheson – who as Scotland’s cabinet secretary for NHS recovery, health and social care had an annual salary of £118,511 – later agreed to pay the money back to the Scottish parliament.

After the story hit the headlines, it then emerged his teenage sons had used the iPad as a hotspot to watch football while on the family vacation.

Mr Matheson was the net zero, energy and transport secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government at the time of the incident.

Mr Matheson, who was appointed health secretary last March when Humza Yousaf became first minister, told Holyrood he was unaware his sons had used the iPad as a hotspot when he initially submitted the bill.

He claimed he was told the truth by his wife after the story sparked a public outcry.

Following his wife’s admission, Mr Matheson initially failed to publicly mention his sons’ involvement. Instead, he continued to insist the iPad was only used for parliamentary work and blamed an outdated SIM card for the excessive bill.

When questioned by journalists days after he knew the truth, he continued to deny the iPad was used for personal use until he made a statement to Holyrood.

Mr Matheson tendered his resignation as health secretary before officially receiving the findings of SPCB’s review.

He said it was in the “best interest” of himself and the Scottish government to step down to ensure it “does not become a distraction to taking forward the government’s agenda”.

In response, then first minister Mr Yousaf said he accepted Mr Matheson’s resignation “with sadness”.

The sanctions are expected to fuel calls for Mr Matheson to resign as an MSP.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This damning ruling is yet another sorry chapter for an SNP government collapsing under the weight of its own sleaze.

“Michael Matheson has treated the public with contempt and the upper echelons of the SNP closed ranks to try and protect him, putting the party interest before the national interest.

“It cannot be right that an MSP can ride roughshod over the rules without the public getting a chance to boot them out – Scottish Labour would introduce a right to recall as part of our plans to clean up Holyrood.”

Mr Matheson has been contacted for comment.

Continue Reading

UK

More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands

Published

on

By

More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands

The prison service is starting to recategorise the security risk of offenders to ease capacity pressures, Sky News understands.

It involves lowering or reconsidering the threshold of certain offenders to move them from the closed prison estate (category A to C) to the open estate (category D) because there are more free cell spaces there.

Examples of this could include discounting adjudications – formal hearings when a prisoner is accused of breaking the rules – for certain offenders, so they don’t act as official reasons not to transport them to a lower-security jail.

Prisoners are also categorised according to an Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) status. There are different levels – basic, standard and enhanced – based on how they keep to the rules or display a commitment to rehabilitation.

Usually ‘enhanced’ prisoners take part in meaningful activity – employment and training – making them eligible among other factors, to be transferred to the open estate.

Insiders suggest this system in England and Wales is being rejigged so that greater numbers of ‘standard’ prisoners can transfer, whereas before it would more typically be those with ‘enhanced’ status.

Open prisons have minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend time on day release away from the prison on license conditions to carry out work or education.

More on Prisons

The aim is to help reintegrate them back into society once they leave. As offenders near the end of their sentence, they are housed in open prisons.

Many of those released as part of the early release scheme in October after serving 40% of their sentence were freed from open prisons.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Overcrowding in UK prisons


They were the second tranche of offenders freed as part of this scheme, and had been sentenced to five years or more.

Despite early release measures, prisons are still battling a chronic overcrowding crisis. The male estate is almost full, operating at around 97% capacity.

Read more from Sky News:
Find out what it’s really like inside prison?
Prison recalls soar as justice system struggles
Campaigners demand IPP sentences are scrapped

Sky News understands there continue to be particular pinch points across the country.

Southwest England struggled over the weekend with three space-related ‘lockouts’ – which means prisoners are held in police suites or transferred to other jails because there is no space.

One inmate is believed to have been transported from Exeter to Cardiff.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. We took the necessary action to stop our prisons from overflowing and to protect the public.

“This is not a new scheme. Only less-serious offenders who meet a strict criteria are eligible, and the Prison Service can exclude anyone who can’t be managed safely in a category D prison.”

Continue Reading

UK

Prisoner driven to psychosis after stealing mobile phone unable to undergo health test ‘due to lack of staff’

Published

on

By

Prisoner driven to psychosis after stealing mobile phone unable to undergo health test 'due to lack of staff'

A prisoner who has served 12 years in jail for stealing a mobile phone was unable to attend a psychiatric assessment because of a lack of staff, his family claims.

According to psychiatrists, Thomas White has developed psychosis as a direct result of being handed a controversial indefinite jail term called imprisonment for public protection (IPP), which was abolished in 2012.

His sister has been campaigning for over a year to have him transferred to a hospital, which would require him to receive sign-off from two separate psychiatrists.

Ms White said her brother, who experiences religious hallucinations, was placed in segregation and needed three prison staff to release him from his cell – but they were not available due to staff shortages.

Clara White, pictured with her brother Thomas and their mother Margaret at Strangeways prison.
Image:
Thomas White pictured with his sister Clara White and their mother Margaret at Manchester prison

Politics latest: PM ‘may have heeded warning’ from Trump’s victory

Sky News understands that Lord Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary who introduced the IPP sentence but now campaigns for reform, has asked prisons minister Lord Timpson to investigate.

What are IPP sentences?

More on Crime

Thomas White, now aged 40, was one of more than 8,000 offenders who were given an IPP sentence – a type of open-ended prison sentence the courts could impose from 2005 until they were scrapped.

The sentence – which has been described as a form of “psychological torture” by human rights experts – was intended for serious violent and sexual offenders who posed a significant risk of serious harm to the public but whose crimes did not warrant a life term.

Although the government’s stated aim was public protection, concerns quickly grew that IPP sentences were being applied too broadly and catching more minor offenders, partly due to the fact that previous convictions were taken into account when determining whether someone posed a “significant risk”.

Thomas was sentenced to two years for stealing the mobile phone in a non-violent exchange back in 2012 – but because he had 16 previous convictions for theft and robberies, he was given an IPP sentence and has served 12 years.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What is an IPP sentence?

The coalition government scrapped the sentence in 2012, but the change was not applied retrospectively, meaning 2,852 prisoners remain behind bars – including 1,227 who have never been released.

The new government is under increasing pressure to act on the IPP crisis given they were introduced by Lord Blunkett – who has since said he feels “deep regret” about the way the sentence was used.

‘My brother is being seriously failed’

In an email to Lord Blunkett, seen by Sky News, Ms White said: “My brother had a psychiatric appointment on the 1 November to see if he could be admitted to an outside hospital as he has to have two signatures to be transferred to an outside hospital.

“The system is nothing but criminal – people like my brother are being seriously failed.

“We waited a long time to have Thomas assessed again by the psychiatrist. We more than likely won’t get the assessment again.”

Read more:
11 years for stealing a mobile phone: Inside the lives of IPP prisoners
The £1bn cost of keeping people in prison on indeterminate IPP sentences

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Inside the lives of IPP prisoners

James Frith, the Labour MP for Bury North, said: “Thomas’ case highlights why these sentences were abolished over a decade ago.

“Thomas’s indefinite imprisonment has had a hugely detrimental impact on his mental and physical wellbeing. Thomas should be a patient, not a prisoner.

“We know the prison system is underfunded and overcapacity, but this is no excuse for failing Thomas. I have been working with Clara, Thomas’ sister, and I have written to the Lord Chancellor to raise Thomas’s case and the wider issues of IPPs.

“Thomas has been denied appropriate assessment and care for too long, we will not give up this fight for what is right.”

The Ministry of Justice does not comment on individual medical cases.

It is understood Lord Timpson will respond to Lord Blunkett in due course.

Continue Reading

UK

Home secretary to announce extra £500m for neighbourhood policing

Published

on

By

Home secretary to announce extra £500m for neighbourhood policing

An extra £500m of additional funding will be given to neighbourhood policing, the home secretary is set to announce.

Yvette Cooper will also lay out plans for a new unit to improve the performances of police forces across the country to end the “postcode lottery” of how effectively crimes are dealt with.

The Home Office says the unit will directly monitor police performance in areas prioritised by the government, including tackling violence against women and girls and knife crime.

The home secretary will make the announcements in her first major speech at the annual conference of the National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners on Tuesday.

Politics latest: PM branded ‘desperate’ after talks with China’s Xi

Ms Cooper is expected to say: “Public confidence is the bedrock of our British policing model but in recent years it has been badly eroded, as neighbourhood policing has been cut back and as outdated systems and structures have left the police struggling to keep up with a fast-changing criminal landscape.

“That’s why we’re determined to rebuild neighbourhood policing, to improve performance across police forces and to ensure the highest standards are being upheld across the service.

More on Crime

“The challenge of rebuilding public confidence is a shared one for government and policing.

“This is an opportunity for a fundamental reset in that relationship, and together we will embark on this roadmap for reform to regain the trust and support of the people we all serve and to reinvigorate the best of policing.”

Read more:
Charges considered in election date betting scandal

‘Miscalculation’ over government’s handling of assisted dying issue

As well as the new government performance unit, ministers also hope to improve the relationship between the public and the police by standardising and measuring police response times – something that is not currently monitored.

In the aftermath of the summer riots, sparked by the Southport stabbings on 29 July, Ms Cooper said respect for the police needed to be restored after the “brazen abuse and contempt” shown by the perpetrators.

She said too often people feel “crime has no consequences” and that “has to change” as she promised to restore confidence in policing and the criminal justice system.

Dr Rick Muir, director of policing thinktank the Police Foundation, said: “A serious reform programme like this in policing is long overdue.

“Too often in the past, officers at the frontline have been let down by outdated technology, inadequate training and inefficient support services.

“Until these issues are addressed, the public won’t get the quality of policing they deserve.”

Continue Reading

Trending