• Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross challenges the FM on why her government is allocating another £20m for an independence referendum amid a cost-of-living crisis
• Nicola Sturgeon maintains the sum amounts to 0.05% of the entire Scottish government budget and is a "really good investment" as it will give people "the opportunity to choose a better future"
• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar focuses on NHS waiting lists, citing a "litany of failure" and vastly increased figures since Ms Sturgeon became the FM
• The first minister acknowledges the longer waits post-Covid but insists there is more health investment and the impact of a post-pandemic recovery plan will be felt soon
• Scottish Lib-Dems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton says one in 30 Scots are suffering from long Covid and questions why the FM is committing twice as much money to indyref2 than to treatment.
• Ms Sturgeon says the government will continue to provide support to health boards to help them develop their understanding of the condition
• The FM is also forced to defend the credibility of Scotland's census, saying there is confidence it will supply credible, quality output despite a lower return rate than the 94% target.

That's all from our live coverage of FMQs. Join us again next time.

Image source, Getty Images

Background

The census rears its head at FMQS after a leading expert said an inquiry should be held into the "fiasco".

Only 86.6% of homes had returned the survey by Monday evening, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) said.

The deadline was extended by a month due to the low return rate, giving households until the end of 31 May to submit their form.

Opposition parties also criticised the Scottish government for not doing more to ensure a higher uptake.

Edinburgh University's Prof Lindsay Paterson, an expert in data-led social research, said it was not far-fetched to call it a "fiasco", calling it "an extreme embarrassment".

• Read more here
• One in 10 homes still to complete census
• Why does every home have to complete a census?

Labour MSP Sarah Boyack asks what the first minister's position is on whether Scotland’s Census 2022 has been a credible exercise.

The first minister replies: "Yes it has."

Ms Sturgeon explains National Records of Scotland are confident that the national return rate coupled with quality assurance will supply credible, quality output.

The first minister says the NRS will provide a high-quality data set.

Ms Boyack says she is concerned people on the lowest incomes will now be doubly hit and she asks what the first minister will do to make sure people in the most deprived areas will not miss out.

Ms Sturgeon says her government will review the process and learn any lessons that need to be learned.

She says, again, the census outputs will be representative of Scotland's whole population.

Replying to Murdo Fraser, Nicola Sturgeon quotes a Scottish Fiscal Commission report that says her government's budget is 5.2% less in real terms than it was last year, and is projected to grow in real terms by 2% at a time when inflation is hitting 10%.

The first minister says the size of the Scottish budget is largely determined by decisions taken at Westminster.

If Mr Fraser wants Scotland to have a bigger budget, he should either "have a word" with his bosses at Westminster or back the Scottish parliament having full fiscal control of its own budget, she adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Scottish Conservatives MSP Murdo Fraser questions the first minister about the estimated £3.5bn gap in Scotland’s public finances.

He cites projections by the IFS and other bodies that there will be real-terms cuts of 8% and more in education, policing, justice and other areas in the coming years.

Given finance minister Kate Forbes confirmed in her spending review on Tuesday that the Scottish government’s budget is around £7bn higher today than was forecast four years ago, Mr Fraser asks how the SNP has managed to turn that extra funding from Westminster into "such savage cuts".

Image source, Getty Images

Background

The Scottish government's spending review continues to cause controversy.

A union leader has warned that cutting 30,000 public sector jobs would be "unsustainable".

It comes after the Scottish government set out its plans at Holyrood on Tuesday to reform public services in the face of a £3.5bn funding gap.

Linda Sommerville, of the Scottish Trade Unions Congress, said the review had "set alarm bells ringing".

She added that the pay bill was to be held down over the next five years by job losses across the public sector.

"There are estimates of up to 30,000 job losses which is unsustainable," adding that services were already stretched.

• Read more here
• Forbes says Scotland must 'reset' public services
• Reality check for Holyrood

Image source, Getty Images

Alex Cole-Hamilton says 155,000 people are suffering from long Covid, which is almost one in 30 Scots.

The Scottish Lib Dem leader stresses the need for long Covid clinics and says the first minister is committing twice as much money to indyref2 than to deal with this condition.

He calls on the first minister to revisit the issue today.

Nicola Sturgeon responds by saying there is a range of support which health boards need to put in place and long Covid clinics may well be part of that.

She says the government will continue to provide support to health boards to help them develop their understanding of long Covid.

Image source, Getty Images

Nicola Sturgeon tells Anas Sarwar the latest quarterly figures show more people are being seen compared to the previous quarter, which shows the impact of the catch-up plan.

We are still in a pandemic, the first minister points out, and we have had another wave of Covid since the plan was published. She maintains the NHS in Scotland is doing better than the other UK nations.

Mr Sarwar responds with more statistics. He says when Ms Sturgeon came to power there were only 21 people waiting a year for treatment, and now there are over 30,000.

He adds there is a legal guarantee of treatment within 12 weeks for hip or knee replacements and heart operations, and claims Ms Sturgeon has broken her own treatment-time law 490,000 times.

With over 4,000 beds cut and record vacancies for nurses and midwives, Mr Sarwar adds it has been a “litany of failure”.

The first minister responds that she is proud of her government’s record on the NHS and says Mr Sarwar must be the only person in the country, or the planet, who doesn’t understand the impact of a global pandemic on health services.

Background

The number of people on hospital waiting lists in Scotland increased by almost 15,000 in three months, according to the latest figures, external.

More than 553,000 were waiting for outpatients or inpatients treatment at the end of March, equivalent to about one in 10 of the population.

The waiting list number is the highest since statistics were recorded in their current form about a decade ago.

And almost one in nine had been waiting for more than a year.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Sarwar proceeds to ask the first minister how many people were on NHS waiting lists a year into the SNP government, pre-pandemic in March 2020 and how many Scots are on the list now.

Nicola Sturgeon says she doesn’t have the figures to hand but does know there are more people on waiting lists now, post-pandemic, which she says is the case not just in Scotland but across the UK and much of the world because of the pressure of Covid.

There was “significant progress” in reducing waiting times before Covid, Ms Sturgeon adds, but this has “clearly been set back by the pandemic”.

Mr Sarwar says there were over 260,000 on waiting lists in 2015, which had risen to almost 420,000 in March 2020.

The figure now stands at 708,000 – the equivalent of one in eight Scots, he says – with nearly 60,000 more compared to when the government announced its ‘catch-up’ plan.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also joins in the goodwill for Steve Clarke and Scotland tonight in their World Cup play-off.

Almost everyone in the world will be supporting Ukraine and if they were playing anyone else, I would be too, Mr Sarwar says.

“But as they are playing us, I will be cheering on Scotland and the Tartan Army. I hope they can take us to a World Cup.”

Mr Ross calls on Ms Sturgeon to own her failures and says her decisions are devastating to the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Tory leader asks how closing the attainment gap is going and warns the "education budget is being slashed to the bone".

The first minister details the progress in closing the attainment gap, quoting from the commissioner for fair access who said "the work of the Scottish government has been an unambiguous success".

Ms Sturgeon points out Douglas Ross has never been more unpopular amongst Conservative voters and only Boris Johnson is more unpopular.

Nicola Sturgeon says it is "deeply regrettable" that it took the "Partygate crisis that Boris Johnson wanted to divert attention from, for the chancellor to lift a single finger".

The first minister points out the £400 of universal support announced by the chancellor is a fraction of the projected increase in energy costs.

She also says the support for the lowest-income families does not even come close to putting back the £1,000 taken out of their pockets.

"There is much, much more that needs to be done by the UK government," the FM adds.

Scotland's budget has been reduced by 5.2%, argues Ms Sturgeon.

She says Kate Forbes set out ambitious plans and this government's budget is determined by decisions taken by the Tories.

Image source, Getty Images

Background

The first minister is taking questions 24 hours after the finance secretary said Scotland must rethink how it delivers its public services in the wake of Covid and Brexit.

Kate Forbes said the public sector had grown for years but now needed to "reset" and become more efficient.

She was speaking as she outlined the government's spending plans for the next five years.

The spending review suggested there would be real-terms cuts in several areas of the public sector.

These included local government, higher education, the courts service, culture and external affairs.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Ross argues the UK government is spending £37bn investing to help those who are struggling.

The Scottish Conservative leader says Scotland has received the biggest block grant ever from the UK government and the SNP have squandered it.

He says a fortune has been wasted on ferries, on BiFab, on Prestwick Airport and failures at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

The Tory MSP says the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the next few years will mean really big cuts to public services.

"Scotland is paying the price for Nicola Sturgeon's mistakes."

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Ross points out the first minister never once addressed the cost-of-living crisis.

The Scottish Tory leader says spending £20m on indyref2 is "shameful" and accuses the first minister of obsessing about independence.

He says that cash could pay for more police officers and teachers.

Mr Ross asks how bad the cost-of-living crisis will have to get for Nicola Sturgeon to divert cash from indyref2 to it.

The first minister hits back, saying soaring inflation is causing the cost-of-living crisis and the UK has the highest level of any G7 country.

"It is a Tory-created cost-of-living crisis," she insists.

Ms Sturgeon says Douglas Ross should apologise for the fact the Scottish government have to spend £700m to mitigate Tory policies.

Mr Ross asks why the SNP government is allocating another £20m for an independence referendum.

The first minister thanks the Scottish Conservative leader for giving her the opportunity to set out exactly why giving the people of Scotland an opportunity to choose a better future is so important.

She says the resource spending review set out yesterday shows the heavy price we are paying for Westminster decision-making.

The first minister says the UK government has cut the Scottish budget by more than 5% in real terms.

She also highlights the high level of inflation.

Image source, SNS

The first minister also begins by wishing the Scotland team well for tonight's World Cup semi-final play-off against Ukraine.

"I'll be there cheering on Scotland," she says

Ms Sturgeon addes: "A bit of all of our hearts will be with Ukraine as we continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine in this hour of need."

She says she hopes everyone will stand and bring their passion to bear when the Ukrainian national anthem is played.

Douglas Ross gets to his feet and FMQs begins.

The Scottish Conservative leader starts by wishing Steve Clarke and the Scotland men's football team well tonight.

"It is a major game," continues Mr Ross, adding: "I know that the whole parliament wishes them well."