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Tory MSP Maurice Corry asks if the first minister accepts the recommendation from the Citizen's Assembly that health experts should lead the daily Covid briefings.

Ms Sturgeon hits back, asking if Boris Johnson and his cabinet should stop leading briefings too.

She says it is important during a public health crisis that politicians are accountable and stand up alongside health experts.

For the Greens, MSP Alison Johnstone asks the first minister about homeless people, saying that before the pandemic Scotland had the highest number of deaths amongst the homeless in the UK.

She says that as we recover from the pandemic, and restrictions continue, will the first minister extend the eviction ban and commit to making the winter evictions ban a permanent fixture.

The first minister says the eviction ban has already been extended and says discussions have been held about making the ban permanent.

She says it needs to be looked at more closely and says she is open-minded to those discussions.

Ms Johnstone also asks if the first minister will show more ambition to support poorer communities by increasing household income, providing more free school meals and reducing public transport costs.

Ms Sturgeon replies by saying that work on these issues is already ongoing but that there is more work to be done.

Willie Rennie says: "Jackie Baillie's just made a very serious point about the handling of the name of a complainer over to Alex Salmond's chief of staff."

The Scottish LIb Dem leader asks the first minister to be clear that did not happen before the meeting on 2 April.

"To the very best of my knowledge I do not think that happened," she replies.

Mr Rennie asks if the first minister investigated whether the information was passed on as there is corroborating evidence it did happen.

Ms Sturgeon reiterates: "It is not my belief that that happened."

The first minister insists she is allowing the committee process and the independent advisor of the ministerial code's process to take their course.

Jackie Baillie claims that there are more complaints against Nicola Sturgeon's ministers than there were under her predecessor.

She says there is "something rotten at the core of the SNP and it is poisoning our democratic institutions".

Ms Sturgeon hits back, saying that what is poisoning our institutions is politicians standing up and "hurling assertions and accusations without a shred of evidence to back them up".

She asks when Jackie Baillie became "chief spokesperson" for Alex Salmond.

Ms Sturgeon says that when she became aware of the complaints she declined to intervene.

Jackie Baillie says it is about the first minister's judgement and leadership. She says the women were failed by the government's "botched handling of their complaints".

She says standing up for women takes "more than warm words".

She adds that a complainant being named was not a conspiracy theory, but a "fundamental breakdown in trust".

She asks "how on earth is that about protecting women?" She asks why the first minister repeatedly agreed to meetings with Alex Salmond after she knew about the serious allegations against him and how did that help the women who complained?

Ms Sturgeon replies saying that Mr Salmond "claims" the name of a complainant was given, and that is not the same thing as accepting that it was the case.

She says she will explain to the committee why she met Alex Salmond and what she did not do after that which was to seek to intervene in the process or sweep claims under the carpet.

She says that along the way she has been "accused of collusion with Alex Salmond and accused of conspiracy against Alex Salmond" and she hopes by the time she appears in front of the committee they will have made up their minds.

Ms Sturgeon replies, saying she will answer all the questions when she appears before the committee and accuses Ms Baillie of accepting at face value Alex Salmond's account of events.

She says she does not accept Alex Salmond's account of much of this which is why, when she sits before the committee, she will "go through in detail what actually happened and what did not happen".

She says that where she does agree with Jackie Baillie is that there are "women at the heart of this". She says they are women she has been accused of hiding behind when in actual fact what she is seeking to do is stand up for them.

She says their voices have been side-lined, their motives maligned and they have been accused of "being conspirators in this whole process".

Jackie Bailey is up next for Scottish Labour.

She says at the heart of the committee set up to investigate the handling of harassment complaints are two women who have been "failed by the government" and says the committee's role is to understand what went wrong so that women cannot be let down again.

She says it is legitimate to explore issues in the ministerial code investigation.

She brings up meetings held with Alex Salmond's former chief of staff as they were a "precursor" to discussions between Mr Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

She says the identity of one of the civil service complainants was revealed to the former chief of staff and conveyed to Mr Salmond and says it was an "extraordinary breach of confidentiality".

She asks on who's authority was contact initiated with Mr Salmond's former chief of staff and on who's authority was the name of a complainer revealed?

She says the action was not about protecting the interests of the women involved and asks if the first minister authorised the contact and if not, who did?

Ruth Davidson concludes by saying: "Is saving your own skin worth all the damage that you are doing?"

The first minister replies: "The most important thing to me is the reputation of our country and the integrity of our institutions."

She insists Ruth Davidson has just gone through a "litany of nonsense".

Ms Davidson argues this looks like a "cover-up" to the public.

The first minister hits back saying every allegation and claim from Ms Davidson is included in the evidence she submitted to the committee in August last year.

"I've been waiting since then to appear before the committee," she adds.

Ms Sturgeon says the meeting on 2 April as well as the meeting three days earlier and the media query in November 2017 were all in her written evidence.

She says it is not legitimate to pursue a conspiracy theory or scorched earth policy that threatens the integrity of Scotland's independent justice institutions, "on the altar of the ego of one man".

Image source, Getty Images

Holyrood faces a "crisis of credibility" over its inquiry into the handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond, opposition leaders have claimed.

The row centres on written evidence submitted to the inquiry by Mr Salmond that was later redacted at the request of the Crown Office.

The Crown Office has dismissed concerns the move was politically motivated.

Mr Salmond is now expected to give evidence to the inquiry on Friday.

• Read more here
• The Salmond inquiry and the political stink at Holyrood

Ms Davidson says all of the parts of Alex Salmond's redacted evidence are important because they're exactly the parts that expose the first minister.

The Scottish Conservative Holyrood group leader says the first minister claimed twice on the BBC not to know anything of the sexual misconduct claims before April 2018.

Ms Davidson says that three separate times the first minister told parliament she found out from Alex Salmond herself that month.

Ms Davidson argues the first minister has been desperate to shut down everything "about the secret meeting in her office the month before because it wrecks her whole argument and confirms she misled parliament."

The first minister replies she will give her own account to the committee next week.

All of Alex Salmond's allegations about her are in the public domain, she says.

Ms Sturgeon expects to be fully questioned about them next week, on all and every aspect of this.

She says scrutiny of her and her government, which has made a mistake, is absolutely necessary.

The first minister adds: "I don't shy away from that. I have waited a long time now to appear before the committee. I am glad that I will finally have that opportunity next week."

She goes on to say: "Anyone who is suggesting that prosecution decisions, or decisions the Crown Office takes in terms of upholding court orders, is in any way politically influenced or politically driven is not just wrong and not just completely lacking in a single shred of evidence to back that claim up, but I would also suggest that they are signing up to a dangerous and quite deluded conspiracy theory, that risks undermining the integrity and the well deserved reputation of Scotland's independent justice system."

Ruth Davidson says on Monday the first minister summoned journalists to her office and challenged Alex Salmond to produce his evidence.

"Only for the Crown to then demand that sections be censored," the Scottish Conservative Holyrood group leader adds.

She says: "Alex Salmond's evidence states this: 'The first minister told parliament that she first learned of the complaints against me when I visited her home on the 2nd of April 2018. That is untrue and is a breach of the ministerial code."

Ms Davidson points out that is one of the sections removed by the Crown Office and it does not risk identifying complainers, who have been "grossly let down by her government".

"What is it about those two sentences of evidence that is so damaging that they should be censored, or is it just that they are damaging to the first minister?," she adds.

Scottish Conservative Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson asks if the first minister will publish her evidence to James Hamilton QC over multiple ministerial code breaches.

This refers to the inquiry which is examining whether Ms Sturgeon breached the ministerial code - which sets out how ministers should behave - by interfering with the civil service investigation into the allegations, or by lying to parliament.

The first minister replies: "I have no difficulty with my evidence to James Hamilton being published. But of course James Hamilton is currently considering that and out of courtesy to James Hamilton it is firstly a matter for him as and when he wants to publish that."

The first minister says the latest estimate of the R number is due and she expects it to remain under one.

She says this is a positive development but there is limited scope to ease restrictions.

She adds that more information will be set out in the coming weeks on dates for restrictions to be eased.

She asks that people continue to stay at home and "stick with the restrictions".

The first minister also updates the chamber on vaccination progress.

As of 08:30 on Thursday, a total of 1,515,980 people have received the first dose.

That is an increase of 27,903 since yesterday.

She highlights that this is almost exactly a third of the adult population in Scotland and included almost everyone in the top four priority groups.

Ms Sturgeon says 56,661 people have now had their second dose, including a third of care home residents.

She says 85% of 65 to 69-year-olds have now received a first jab.

And she adds that everyone over the age of 50 and all adults with an underlying health condition will be offered a first dose by 15 April.

Nicola Sturgeon confirms that a further 769 people have tested positive for Covid-19. That is 3.7% of the total number of tests carried out.

This takes the total number of positive cases in Scotland to 200,406.

967 patients are in hospital with a confirmed case (down 51), with 89 being treated in intensive care (down 4).

31 deaths have been registered in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 7,084 deaths in Scotland by that measure.