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Employability Minister Jamie Hepburn says the government continues to review the research into this field and its potential to the economy. 

Mr Hepburn says the government will take forward analysis of this in the future.

Mr Arthur says a recent IPPR report states that 1.2m jobs in Scotland are at risk due to automation and asks what steps the government are taking to protect workers.

Mr Hepburn says there has been a range of research commissioned and the figure of jobs affected may be significantly lower than those found in the report.

The employability minister says the government are investing in training programmes. 

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Nearly half of Scottish jobs could be carried out by machines in just over 10 years' time, a report has warned.

The Institute for Public Policy Research Scotland said 46% of jobs - about 1.2 million - were at "high risk" of automation in the period up to 2030.

The think tank's research says that, by then, adults are "more likely to be working longer, and will often have multiple jobs".

It said skills qualifications "should be reviewed".

Read more here.

SNP MSP Tom Arthur ask the Scottish government whether it will provide an update on any assessment it has made of the potential impact of automation and artificial intelligence on the economy. 

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Housing Minister Kevin Stewart says in 2015-2016 there were 922 homelessness applications from former armed forces members and that this is the lowest to date. 

Mr Corry says most of the houses provided to veterans come through charities and their budgets have been cut he asks what the government can do to work more closely with charities and local authorities to improve the figures.

Mr Stewart says the government is working with charities and local authorities to make more housing available. 

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A report from the Express on 8 February 2017 says:

"Thousands of mentally traumatised war veterans are rotting on the streets of Britain because the Government is not adequately enforcing a law which states military heroes must be offered homes.

"Homeless charities estimate there are about 7000 ex-servicemen and women living rough and in desperate need of a roof over their head.

Instead, thousands of empty properties are going to asylum seekers, with the Government finding accommodation for 6,500 in the last year alone.

The Armed Forces Covenant and Community Covenant were introduced in 2012 as a contract stating Britain’s war heroes should take priority when it comes to affordable housing.

Read more here., external

Tory MSP Maurice Corry asks the Scottish government how many veterans it has recorded as homeless in each of the last three years. 

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Mr Briggs says recent studies suggests the Edinburgh bypass is one of the most congested and set to get worse.

The Tory MSP asks what is being done about this. 

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf says the government has invested in lane-widening projects.

Mr Yousaf says smart technology is a big part of road improvement projects. 

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Four of the UK's worst traffic bottlenecks occur on the Edinburgh bypass, according to research.

The city also ranks second in a list of Britain's most congested cities, while Glasgow is third.

Only London ranked worse than Scotland's largest cities in the survey of the UK's roads by Inrix Roadway Analytics, external.

It found that the jams could cost drivers in Scotland £5.1bn in wasted time over the next decade.

The firm studied traffic hotspots in 21 UK cities in September 2016.

It assessed the impact of the congestion by looking at the average duration of traffic jams, their average length and the number of times they occurred.

Read more here.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs asks the Scottish government whether it will provide an update on plans to increase the capacity of the Edinburgh city bypass. 

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More than 50,000 disabled people have had specially adapted vehicles taken away since changes to disability benefits in 2013.

The Motability scheme entitles disabled people to lease a specially adapted new car, scooter or powered wheelchair using part of their benefit.

But the charity says that 51,000 people have had vehicles taken away since the benefits system was changed in 2013.

The government says there are more people on the scheme now than in 2010.

Read more here.

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Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman says the UK government will have cut £1bn from welfare by 2022.

Ms Freeman says the Scottish government has taken steps to mitigate some of those cuts. 

She says the Scottish government should not have to mitigate policies that the Scottish Parliament has not voted for.

Ms McAlpine says a number of people are losing their Motability vehicles because of cuts and asks if the minister agrees that is unacceptable.

Ms Freeman says the UK government claim that the cuts are to help people back into employment and that the affects on those with mobility vehicles contradicts that. 

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In January we reported the Scottish government planned use its new social security powers for the first time to increase the frequency of Universal Credit payments.

Universal Credit itself remains reserved, but ministers will use new powers to give claimants the option to be paid fortnightly instead of monthly.

The government also plans to offer to pay housing benefits direct to landlords rather than via claimants.

Opposition MSPs welcomed the move, but said the government should do more.

Read more here.

SNP MSP Joan McAlpine asks what the government is doing to mitigate the cumulative effect of UK government benefit reductions in Dumfries and Galloway. 

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Education Secretary John Swinney says the government has taken a series of actions to improve teacher recruitment. 

Mr Swinney says the government will work with local authorities on this. 

Mr Macdonald says some of these steps are very welcome and asks about further action to tackle the "recruitment crisis". 

Mr Swinney says this is a problem which is not just in Scotland but is widespread.

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In February we reported that hundreds more teacher training places were to be made available at Scottish universities from September.

Education Secretary John Swinney said the number of places would rise by 371 to a total of 3,861 at the start of the next academic year.

Mr Swinney said the places would be funded by more than £3m of Scottish government cash.

The announcement follows criticism from political opponents over falling standards in Scotland's schools.

Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald asks what measures the government will take to ensure increased recruitment of students from the north of Scotland to train as teachers at the University of Aberdeen.

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Tory MSP Murdo Fraser asks if if the risk of people moving their funds if additional rates are increased will be taken into account when considering increasing the additional rate.

Mr Mackay says it will and it would be better if the Scottish government had full control of tax powers. 

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Fianance Secretary Derek Mackay says in February the parliament backed the government's tax plans.

Mr Mackay says he would consider raising the additional rate from 45p to 50p in future.

Mr Sarwar asks why low income earners won't choose to leave Scotland but high earners would and says if it is a "Tory argument".

Mr Mackay says the government's approach is to the tax system is balanced, fair and progressive. 

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Holyrood has made history by voting to set separate Scottish income tax rates and bands for the first time.

The SNP and Greens agreed a deal which will see the basic rate, paid by most taxpayers, left alone.

The Greens abstained on the income tax vote to allow the proposals to pass, despite them accusing the government "showing none of the ambition that is needed" on tax.

The party supported a 60p rate on income tax for those earning more than £150,000, but has also said it does not want to see the budget fall as it would lead to "far more damaging cuts to local services".

Scottish Labour called for the top rate of income tax to be increased from 45p to 50p, claimed that the deal between the SNP and Greens would "destroy any remaining illusion they are progressive".