MSPs backed the general principles of the School Transport (Scotland) Bill , externalto make it compulsory to have seat belts on school buses.

Gillian Martin's backbench bill to make it a legal requirement for seat belts to be fitted on all dedicated home-to-school transport will now face further committee scrutiny.

There have been calls for the bill to be extended to cover buses used for school trips.

It is currently up to local authorities to demand seatbelts on school buses.

Just over half of Scotland's councils have it as a requirement within school transport contracts.

Image source, State farm

Rural economy committee convener and Tory MSP Edward Mountain said the committee was surprised the bill only covered home-to-school journeys and omitted school excursions.

Labour MSP Neil Bibby says the bill did not require that seatbelts were worn.

He said 74% of pupils at a school he visited said they were unlikely to wear, or would not wear, seat belts.

SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said that requiring the fitting of seat belts in school buses was something the Scottish Parliament could now legislate for, but the law to enforce wearing those seat belts lay elsewhere.

Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles said he was "astonished" that this was not already a law and that all 32 local authorities had not yet stipulated this in their contract.

MSPs will now consider the Seat Belts on School Transport (Scotland) Bill at Stage 2.

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Tory MSP Edward Mountain asks if there will need to be a loan scheme for this coming year.

Mr Ewing says the government aims to complete the functionality of the CAP IT system so that loans are not required.

He says this will be determined by discussion with CGI and he will provide clarity on this as soon as possible.

The minister says he will make sure farmers continue to reassure the majority of the payments within the time-frame either by full payment or by a loan scheme.

Mr Mountain thanks the minister and his officials and briefly suspends.

Green MSP John Finnie asks if Mr Ewing is able to talk about any future systems post-Brexit.

Mr Ewing says he has expressed concerns about the lack of clarity on funding post-Brexit.

The rural economy secretary says that there are aspects of the system the Scottish government would want to keep.

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Tory MSP Peter Chapman asks about LFASS not continuing after 2017 and he says the NFU does not think the government is up to speed for the change.

Mr Chapman asks if this is due to the focus on the CAP payments IT system.

Mr Ewing says no.

The minister says the commission is looking at requests from the European Parliament to defer the parachute for a year at 100%.

He says he cannot confirm the LFASS budget for 2019 because the UK government has not confirmed it will be funded.

SNP MSP Richard Lyle says he knows how many payments are outstanding but does not know how many people were eligible in the first place.

Mr Lyle says he knows that 30 Pillar One payments are still outstanding on the Basic Payment Screening (BPS) scheme.

Annabel Turpie, chief operating officer rural payments operation, Scottish government says, for BPS, 18,321 people were eligible.

Mr Lyle says that means there are only 30 payments left of 18,321.

Ms Turpie says that there are actually only 25 payments left and those are complex cases.

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Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles asks about knock on affects of the CAP IT system on other schemes.

Mr Rumbles asks about the Beef Efficiency Scheme being ignored and asks if there is an underspend.

Mr Ewing says the government has responded to concerns from farmers and the NFU and he says the take up has been high in numbers of cattle but low in terms of farmers.

He says this is not a causal result of difficulties with the CAP IT system.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant asks when the 2015 payments will be made in full.

Annabel Turpie, chief operating officer rural payments operation, Scottish government, says early summer 2017.

Tory MSP Jamie Greene asks if there are any farmers that are eligible for 2015 payments that haven't been paid anything.

Mr Ewing says that is being looked into but he is not aware of any.

Andrew Watson, deputy director for agricultural policy implementation, Scottish government, says Mr Ewing is right and, as far as the government are aware, everyone who is eligible has received a payment or the offer of a loan for 2015 payments.

Tory MSP Edward Mountain asks if 95.2 % of Pillar One payments will be made in two days time.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing says around 90% of payments will be made but it will fall short by a few percentage points.

Mr Ewing says it is impossible to be precise about the penalties but it will be far less than the auditor general's opinion of £60m.

Tory MSP Peter Chapman says he specifically asked Mr Ewing last Wednesday if he was going to seek an extension to the deadline and Mr Ewing did not answer it.

Mr Chapman says Mr Ewing has not been transparent in this instance and asks if all the payments will have been made by the deadline in two days time.

Mr Ewing says he tries to be as transparent as possible and that he tried to speak to the motion during Wednesday's debate.

The rural economy secretary says the application for an extension was the prudent thing to do.

He says it only became clear that the extension request was required "fairly recently" and that, if the criticism of him is that he did not mention this during a debate, "we are getting into fanciful territory".

Farming leaders said they wanted results, not more apologies.

Scott Walker, chief executive of the National Farmer's Union Scotland, said that after a series of delays, farmers actually felt the situation was worse now than it was three years ago.

He said: "We've had a lot of apologies and we do appreciate that everything that can be done is being done to put payments out."

Image source, Getty Images

"But we don't actually want any more apologies, we want the situation to be corrected. We want farmers to get the payments when they're due, because these payments are vital, not just for farmers but for the whole rural economy.

"I've got no doubt that everyone involved in the IT project is working their hardest to get payments out, but really the industry should have been told of this beforehand.

"We're just right at the deadline, and we're now being told that extensions are being asked for. That's not going to restore any confidence in terms of farmers and crofters that are due their payments."

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant asks if the first minister new last Thursday during first minister's questions about the application for the extension and if he knew during the CAP debate last Wednesday.

Mr Ewing says this is being taken forward as a prudent measure.

Ms Grant says why hide it then.

Mr Ewing says he hid nothing and made a speech in which he dealt with the motion in front of him.

Mr Greene asks if the first minister knew about the letter calling for the extension last Thursday.

Mr Ewing says It was something that was in contemplation and being considered but the final decision was not made until the application was made.

Mr Greene says it is a very unclear answer.

Tory MSP Jamie Greene asks if the first minister was aware of Mr Ewing's intention to send the letter requesting a extension payment deadline last Wednesday prior to it being sent.

Mr Ewing says "it was reported to Cabinet" he then apologises and then says he "probably shouldn't have said that, discussed in Cabinet".

He says that it was raised as a possibility ahead of sending the letter.

Mr Ewing says he cannot remember which Cabinet it was and that the first minister may not have been in attendance or privvy to the discussion

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Mr Ewing says the best estimate is around £5m for the penalty for last year's extension not over £40m as Audit Scotland suggested and he says it has overestimated this year's penalty.

He says the Scottish government is working to mitigate the penalty from the European Commission.

The Scottish government has again asked for an extension to the deadline for making EU farming payments.

European subsidies to farmers through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be processed by 30 June.

But European Commission sources said the government had asked for that date to be extended until 15 October.

Nicola Sturgeon had earlier refused during first minister's questions to confirm whether an extension was being sought.

The subsequent confirmation from the commission led the Scottish Conservatives to accuse Ms Sturgeon of attempting to duck the issue, and claimed it was further evidence of a "culture of secrecy and denial in the SNP government".

It is understood that the commission is still considering the request for an extension, with the Scottish government being encouraged to accelerate payments to farmers before next week's deadline.

The deadline was also extended to October last year after problems with the Scottish government's new £178m IT system caused delays to payments which left many Scottish farmers facing a cash flow crisis, according to industry leaders.

Read more here.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant says "if the computer system was fit for purpose" then the rural economy secretary would not have to request an extension.

Mr Ewing says that the extension was requested as a matter of precaution and that the system has improved.