If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of what was discussed in FMQs today:

• Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar both challenged the first minister on the Scottish government's handling of its Covid WhatsApp messages
• Humza Yousaf insisted his party acted in a proper manner and said the Scottish government is going to hand over 14,000 WhatsApp messages from that time period
• The Tory leader said Yousaf was "all over the place" on the issue and Sarwar said the first minister has "lost control of his government"
• Yousaf took the opportunity while he was being grilled on his government's co-operation with the Covid Inquiry to apologise to the Scottish Covid Bereaved groups for any anxiety the recent news may have caused them
• The state of NHS dentistry in Scotland, firework safety, Edinburgh's "housing crisis" and help with medical evacuations in Gaza were all issues raised from the backbenches

That's all from the live team today. Calum Watson was the editor and Megan Bonar and Auryn Cox were the writers.

SNP MSP Kaukab Stewart asks for an update on plans for medical evacuations from Gaza.

She says Humza Yousaf committed to treating injured civilians in Scottish hospitals.

The FM says hospitals in Gaza are "vastly" running out of fuel and medical supplies but there have been no requests for the UK to take medical evacuations.

“Where we can bring those injured people for treatment here in Scotland and the UK, Scotland is certainly prepared to do that.” he says.

Image source, Getty Images

The City of Edinburgh Council is set to formally declare a housing emergency.

The council's housing convener Jane Meagher will table a motion on Thursday highlighting a "crisis" in both the public and private sectors.

It will cite the city's record homelessness figures along with a severe shortage of social rented homes and spiralling private rental costs.

The Scottish government is expected to be urged to provide extra resources to help meet the "severe challenges".

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Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack asks the government to accept there is a housing emergency in Edinburgh.

She says the FM needs to looks at “targeted solutions and investment” to increase housing supply in the capital.

Yousaf says his government has a good track record of building houses.

“From April 20007 to the end of June 2023, we have delivered over 123,000 affordable homes, over 87,000 of which are for social rent,” he says

SNP MSP Mark Ruskell asks how the Scottish government is making public transport more affordable.

Yousaf says his government is taking a range of actions including a free bus travel scheme for asylum seekers and an expansion to the national ferry concessionary travel scheme to all island residents under-22.

He adds that people are already benefitting from the pilot to remove peak fares on ScotRail services and mentions Scotland's free bus travel scheme.

Labour's Alex Rowley asks when will be have measures to make bus travel more affordable for everyone, not just older or younger age groups.

Yousaf says a fair fares review is under way, and says his government will act where it has the power to do so.

Tory MSP Foysol Choudhary asks what action is being taken to ensure dentists are being properly funded to take on NHS patients.

He says dentists in Edinburgh are no longer accepting NHS patients.

The first minster says the government's been working with dentists on payment reform.

He adds a scheme launched yesterday is the “most significant change to NHS dentistry in a generation” as they work to incentivise NHS dentistry.

Image source, PA Media

The SNP's Clare Adamson asks the first minister what steps the Scottish government is taking to increase public awareness of firework safety ahead of Bonfire Night.

Humza Yousaf says his government has recently launched an awareness campaign to reinforce appropriate messaging around displays and how to stay safe over the bonfire weekend.

Scottish Conservative Russell Findlay asks why the government's firework laws are being ignored by councils "suffering from severe SNP cuts".

And he mentions the disruption in Dundee on Halloween night when riot police had to be deployed to the area for the second year in a row.

The first minster says neither local authorities nor the Scottish government should be blamed for what happened in Dundee.

"We should be getting behind our fire service, getting behind police Scotland and our ambulance service who do a fantastic job in the run up to bonfire night and bonfire night itself," he says.

He adds legislation has been brought forward and a number of applications for control zones have been made and will be given due consideration.

Analysis: FM now has a strategy for dealing with WhatsApp questionspublished at 12:41 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

12:41 GMT 2 November 2023

David Wallace Lockhart
Political correspondent

It was exactly a week ago today that Scottish Government whatsapps really came under the spotlight.

Douglas Ross, at First Ministers Questions last Thursday, raised concerns from the UK-wide covid inquiry about how few messages they’d received.

It’s dominated the news agenda since then, with a few twists and turns and some confusion about what exactly the rules around whatsapp are.

But today it felt like Humza Yousaf now has landed on a strategy for dealing with questions on this issue.

He’s stressing that he hasn’t deleted any of his whatsapps. That’s not an assurance that all significant government figures from the pandemic have been able to echo.

The first minister says the inquiries will be getting over 14,000 messages, and he’s vocal about his commitment to transparency.

When under pressure from the Scottish Conservatives, he’s also able to draw on the fact that the UK Conservative government’s approach to Covid hasn’t exactly been perfect.

Think about some of Dominic Cummings’ WhatsApps that became public this week. Or certain parties that took place in Downing Street.

This issue certainly hasn’t gone away for the Scottish government – people will want to know what’s in the WhatsApps they are handing over. And they may well want more detail on any that no longer exist.

“To abdicate responsibility, I think is frankly shameful and people will see that right across the country.” says Sarwar.

The Scottish Labour leader says Humza Yousaf has lost control of his government.

The first minister says he can give an "unequivocal guarantee" to those families who have been bereaved by Covid that retained messages will be handed over to the inquiry.

He says: “As first minister, as head of this government, I will when submitting my statement be handing over my message in full and unredacted.”

Sarwar asks how many ministers and officials have failed to comply with a do not destroy notice put on government messages during the pandemic.

The Labour leader said the first minister gave him “unequivocal” assurances in June that the Scottish government had followed the Section 21 order.

Mr Yousaf said: “It is absolutely my expectation that potentially relevant information is kept, recorded in the appropriate way and handed over to the inquiry when requested.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is up next and asks if the first minister will take personal responsibility for ensuring that the government “complies in full” with the Covid inquiries.

He said both the Scottish and UK inquiries are crucial in understanding what happened during the pandemic to “learn lessons for the future.”

Humza Yousaf replies: "I am of course responsible for my witness statement.”

He says he doesn’t know what requests have gone to other ministers, which he adds is appropriate as confidentiality must be adhered to.

The Tory leader says the first minister is "all over the place on this".

He says the deletion policy means the government can cherry-pick what information goes to the inquiry and mentions members of the Scottish Covid Bereaved who said if someone deliberately deleted messages it would be totally in the wrong.

"Does the first minister regret letting down these families and so many others," he asks.

Yousaf says he will reiterate the apology made to the Scottish Covid Bereaved.

"We did not mean to cause them the anxiety that they clearly felt as a result of what was said at the Covid Inquiry last week," he says.

"That was on us and we intend to make right with that and that is why we will release those 14,000 WhatsApp messages and I will release my own messages as well."

Ross says the first minister did not answer the question and states that the law is very clear deleting evidence required by an inquiry is an illegal offence.

He asks why the SNP government have deleted such messages.

Humza Yousaf says that is not correct because his government are handing over their messages.

"I am absolutely committed to being transparent, to being accountable because we want the truth to be heard not just by the public but particularly by the families that were bereaved by Covid," he adds

The Scottish Conservative leader says it's not up to the Scottish government to pick and choose which messages to hand over to the Covid inquiries.

He says Nicola Sturgeon deleted WhatsApp messages despite saying she would not.

"Does Humza Yousaf accept that Nicola Sturgeon or any government minister has destroyed WhatsApp messages relevant to the inquiry they would be breaking the law?" he asks.

The first minister replies that Nicola Sturgeon acted with full accountability and transparency during the daily pandemic media briefings.

He adds that the Scottish Covid inquiry was set up to get to the truth and to ensure answers are there for the families which suffered the most during Covid.

Image source, Getty Images

The Scottish government has been facing criticism this week for not handing over all relevant data to the UK's Covid Inquiry, with senior figures accused of deleting files.

First Minister Humza Yousaf denied deleting any messages while Nicola Sturgeon said she was not in any WhatsApp group chats.

Yesterday the deputy first minister Shona Robison announced her government will be handing over more than 14,000 electronic messages to the inquiry.

She also said Yousaf would share his messages.

• Read more
• First minister has a Covid transparency problem
• Covid inquiry: Why would the Scottish government delete WhatsApps?

Image source, PA Media

Ross begins by asking why the Scottish government brought in a policy to delete WhatsApp messages during the Covid pandemic.

The first minister replies that it is a general policy which includes informal messaging.

He says any information that could be relevant to the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries should be retained in the record management system.

"That is why 14,000 WhatsApp messages are in the process of being handed over now that we have the section 21 order. It's why 19,000 documents have already been submitted," he says.

And he he says when he hands his own messages over they will be unredacted.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross gets to his feet and First Minister Humza Yousaf sits poised and ready as FMQs gets under way.

Remember you can watch proceedings by clicking on the play icon at the top of this live page.

Shortly before FMQs it was announced the first minister pledged a further £250,000 to aid displaced Palestinians with access to food, water and medical supplies.

It takes the Scottish government's total funding to assist the relief efforts to £750,000, benefiting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) flash appeal.

It has been a difficult time for Humza Yousaf who has had to continue with his ministerial duties while his in-laws remain trapped in Gaza without clean drinking water and "rapidly diminishing supplies".

"I have been repeatedly calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, but while we press this vital issue it's important we support the Palestinian people as much as we can," he said.

Image source, Reuters

While events in the Middle East continue to dominate global headlines, the Scottish government has faced criticism for not handing over pandemic era WhatsApp’s to the UK Covid Inquiry.

Former SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan resigned from the party to join Alex Salmond's Alba party citing increasing disillusionment with her former party’s leadership.

Figures obtained by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine revealed the number of people in Scotland who waited 24 hours or more in A&E in the first half of this year was more than 250 times higher than pre-pandemic levels.

And strikes shut schools in four council areas across Scotland yesterday as further strike action was announced.

Image source, PA Media

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of first minister's questions.

We'll bring you the action live from Holyrood, with all the latest updates.

FMQs gets under way at noon. You can watch live from the chamber by clicking the play icon at the top of this page.