Humza Yousaf is facing questions after telling MSPs that spot checks were already being carried on passengers flying into Scotland last month - when in fact the policy was stalled due to an administrative delay.
The Scottish Government's justice secretary told members of Holyrood's health committee on June 23 that "approximately 20% of travellers" had been contacted by health officials to check if they had developed Covid symptoms since flying into the country.
It was subsequently revealed that not a single spot check took place in June or the first week in July - as Scottish health staff didn't have security clearance to access the required passenger data compiled by the Home Office.
Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton called on Yousaf to make an urgent statement to Parliament to explain why he appeared to mislead the health committee.
But a Scottish Government spokesman said the justice secretary believed quarantine checks for international visitors did begin in the week beginning June 22.
Yousaf today wrote to the committee to clarify his remarks.
Responding to the Scottish Government statement, Cole-Hamilton said: "So the justice secretary didn’t know the spot checks he was responsible for weren’t happening but told Parliament emphatically that they were?
"What other viral containment measures are the SNP government winging it on? This is a shambles."
Cole-Hamilton had added: “A fortnight ago the Justice Secretary said that 20% of travellers were being contacted to check that they are isolating. Yet this weekend it became clear that this was not the case and it wasn’t happening.
“The Cabinet Secretary’s evidence to the committee seems to be completely at odds with the truth as we now understand it and Parliament deserves an explanation.
“The Government have said repeatedly this week that they couldn’t start the checks due to a delay in security clearance from the UK government.
"If there was a problem of this kind, why did the justice secretary not mention that in his committee evidence and why did he insist that it was happening as planned.”
In a letter to the committee's convener, Yousaf said: "At the time I made that statement, based on the information provided to me by my officials, I believed it to be correct. I was advised that receipt of data and the ability to contact those in quarantine had begun on June 22.
"However, I now understand that in fact on receipt of the data it was determined to not be of sufficient quality to allow the relevant checks to take place immediately and so further work was required to improve the quality of the data."
He added: "I remain confident that there is a robust system in place to check on incoming passengers. Border Force have reported high levels of compliance with the regulations at ports of entry.
"As I said to the committee Police Scotland’s approach to enforcement of these regulations would be to act based on intelligence they may receive that somebody is not self-isolating."
