Angela Constance says some of the evidence around pupil premium is inconclusive with some thinking it is used to offset funding scarcity in other areas.

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Since 2011 teacher numbers have stabilised at around 51,000, partly due to the £51m invested in protecting the number of teachers in Scotland.

Education Secretary Angela Constance says she says the focus must be on improving the educational outcomes for looked-after children.

Ms Constance says fewer qualifications in S4 will not lead to fewer qualifications in S5 and S6, but the decrease in presentations is behind the statistics quoted by opposition members.

She says she will continue to look at targeting the children in the most need of an educational boost.

Conservative MSP Liz Smith says there is a problem with literacy and it must be addressed.

Ms Smith says she does not accept pupils are less bright than they were before, there must be another answer.

The Tory MSP says she cannot accept the claim that there is something new about all teachers teaching literacy.

She says the literacy and numeracy statistics are simply not acceptable after eight years in government.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie says SNP backbenchers should ask more questions of the Scottish government and hold it to account on its performance.

Mr Rennie says far from dumping the debt, the SNP have doubled the debt for students.

He says it is disappointing that, when faced with a serious question about students from deprived background, SNP MSP Joan McAlpine chooses to point her finger somewhere else rather than look at her own government.

Mr Rennie insists the route out of poverty is through education, particularly via early years intervention.

SNP MSP Joan McAlpine says inequality is a growing problem across western societies and the UK.

Ms McAlpine says it was Labour who dug their heels in and prevented the devolution of the minimum wage and the living wage.

Mr Brodie is chastised for using unparliamentary language, for referring to Conservatives as "that lot".

He apologises after Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon raises a point of order

Labour MSP Neil Findlay says he hopes the Scottish government made a mistake with the Procurement Bill last year but he hopes they will address that error now.

Mr Findlay says we should be doing what we can now and go back to the EU and ask a different question to extend the coverage of the living wage in procurement.

SNP MSP Kevin Stewart criticises the Scottish Labour motion, saying the only access to the analysis, by Dr Jim Scott of the University of Edinburgh, was a coloured-in graph available at the back of the chamber.

Mr Stewart says if MSPs are to debate Dr Scott's analysis then they must have sight of that analysis, not just a coloured graph.

Labour MSP and former teacher Iain Gray says the data was cited from the SQA data, as the deputy presiding officer tells Mr Stewart to sit down.

Labour MSP Hugh Henry raises a point of order saying Mr Gray was being shouted down by another member, sounding very like Mr Stewart.

Deputy Convener John Scott calms both sides down by accepting the point of order and the debate continues.

Mr Stewart begins again and says Dr Scott's analysis is not publically available, saying it is very difficult to debate it as a consequence.

Mr Rennie says: "We are asking for our young people to play catch up form the age of two in an already competitive global economy".

There is evidence that individual support, such as that offered by the UK pupil premium support, can help those who most need help.

Mr Rennie asks for the Scottish government to consider implementing a similar approach in Scotland.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie says unemployment has risen in Scotland and that means the Scottish government must examine its policy: "to admit the weaknesses in its own failings".

He says calls for more powers for Holyrood are not the only answer to adequately address the issue, despite being the SNP backbenchers only recourse in interventions.

Mr Rennie says that targeted funding for school-aged pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds should be explored in Scotland as a means to give disadvantaged pupils a better chance of reaching their potential.

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The Lib Dem MSP considers that education is the best means to create a strong economy with sustainable jobs, and is concerned that the unemployment level in Scotland is bucking the trend seen across the UK by increasing in the last quarter.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie uses his amendment to highlight research that shows that investment in the first three years of a child's life is the most influential in changing an individual's life chances.

Mr Rennie believes that quality early years education is crucial to closing the attainment gap.

Ms Scanlon calls for adequate data to target the attainment fund of £100m.

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She closes by saying the cuts to colleges do not help educational attainment at all.

Mary Scanlon asks why so many 16-19 year olds are NEETs (not in Education, Employment or Training).

Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon says the government is limiting the choice for children in the highers they can sit thus disadvantaging them.

In her amendment, Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon says she is is concerned about the high percentage of secondary schools that have reduced the number of certificate subjects available in S4.

This in turn, she says, has reduced the total number of presentations, including in English and Maths, and which, by definition, means that there are fewer pupils who are properly schooled in the literacy and numeracy skills required in the world of work.

Ms Constance says equity, equality, excellence and ambition are key cornerstones of the education system.

The key focus of the Scottish government is "To close the attainment gap so that every child in every community has every chance to succeed at school and in life".

Labour MSP Iain Gray insists attainment has fallen citing statistics from the same source as the minister.

The minister hits back saying there are more pupils taking Highers now.

You need to have done well in Higher statistics to follow this debate!

It brings to mind the phrase oft used by Mark Twain, who quoted Benjamin Disraeli as having said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

The education secretary says Labour is in error in its assertions on the Scottish government's record on education.

Ms Constance says the statistics dropped last year due to success not failure, because young people successfully transferred to the new curriculum whereby they take fewer qualifications.

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Thus the reduction does not reflect badly on the results, rather it shows an improvement in the curriculum, says the minister.

Education Secretary Angela Constance says education and the economy are inextricably linked.

Ms Constance says the Scottish government has done more than anyone else to promote the living wage.