Humza Yousaf has ordered a review of Scottish Government credit card spending after details emerged of how officials spent £14m in three years.

The First Minister said he would ask the Government’s top civil servant to check the rules were “robust” after admitting some of the purchases appeared questionable. 

Figures obtained by Scottish Labour showed the purchases included thousands of pounds of VIP airport services for Nicola Sturgeon from a firm promising to “treat you like royalty”.

The procurement cards were also used to buy six copies of a book of the then First Minister’s speeches and 21 copies of a primer on “How to Run a Government”.

The cards were also used to pay for an official’s driving theory test, China crockery for a meeting room, a £27 “homedisco” from eBay and £272 on “wellington boots for inspections”.

Opposition parties said the data pointed to waste and financial mismanagement.

READ MORE: £14m credit card bill includes £10k on Sturgeon's airport VIP costs

Appearing at a record of Matt Forde’s The Political Party podcast at the Edinburgh Fringe, Mr Yousaf was asked directly about the controversy.

He said: “These were spends that were made a number of years ago, between 2019 and 2022. It's fair to ask the questions that people are asking about. 

“Was this item spent? Why was it spent? Why was it bought by the civil service and potentially by government ministers?

“I will ask the Permanent Secretary [John-Paul Marks] to just review, 'Do we have the right procedures in place when it comes to spend?'.

“At the same time, civil servants reading books about governing well - it's not a bad thing.

“I quite like my civil servants to read. But I do take the point. I think I saw some items on it, on the spend that was mentioned… I can understand why people have got questions.

“I will ask the Permanent Secretary to take a look at, Do we have the robust rules in place when it comes to that kind of spend.”

He also defended the use of spending on airport security, noting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently spent tens of thousands of pounds on a private jet to visit Scotland.

He said: “We absolutely have to be mindful of every penny and every pound that we spend, but we've also got to be mindful of people's security.”