Image source, Reuters/Getty Images/Scottish government

We'll be back at 14:30 as MSPs continue to debate Nicola Sturgeon's programme for government.

See you then.

Ms Freeman says the government does not have the powers to deal with the most damaging aspects of Universal Credit.

The social security minister says a social security system "should be there to help us, not trip us up."

She says she supports Mr Rowley's motion and the calls for the UK government to listen and to "fix the broken system".

That concludes the debate on the roll-out of social security.

Social Security Minister Jeanne Freeman says, gesturing to the Tories, "when you sit silent you collude with the problems."

Ms Greeman says there is no rational for not pausing and fixing this system

The minister says the only reason must be the utter contempt for the damage that has been done by the roll-out of UC.

She accuses the UK government of 'contempt, arrogance and incompetence on social security'.

Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman says 38% of people receiving Universal Credit are in work and this is about "enforced misery."

Ms Freeman says Mr Balfour's contribution "beggars belief" and refuses to acknowledge what is going on.

The social security minister says Ms Wells' empathy and sympathy does not help resolve the issues.

SNP MSP Ruth Maguire says each time she has thought the Tories can sink no lower, they have surpassed themselves.

Ms Maguire says the Tories are dismissing the evidence being shown to them out of hand.

The SNP MSP says this parliament's voice on the two-child cap and rape clause was dismissed as nationalist grievance.

"How bad does it have to get before the Tories act?" She says.

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Conservative MSP Annie Wells says an estimated 54,000 people in Scotland are claiming UC.

Ms Wells says the first payments are made within seven days of the assessment ending.

The Tory MSP says she completely empathises with those waiting up to 6 weeks for the first payment and she welcomes Lord Freud saying the time will be reduced during the roll-out.

She says there must be some form of assessment for UC and she says UC is helping people back into work.

The Tory MSP defends the basic principles of UC.

SNP MSP Maree Todd says she hopes the UK government take notice of the "devastating impact" that this is having on people.

Ms Todd says the UK government are not listening to the people of the Highlands or the people of Scotland.

The SNP MSP says it is difficult for people who come from wealthy backgrounds to understand that people in difficulty cannot survive for six weeks without welfare.

"Any politician worth their salt" would realise this policy has to be halted, "how many more people have to suffer?" She says.

Labour MSP Neil Findlay says this is a "vital debate" and he says the Tory party is adopting the same approach as they did in the Rape Clause debate, saying only one token speaker.

Mr Findlay asks where Tory MSP Adam Tomkins, who is social security spokesperson for his party, is and says the Conservatives are an "utter disgrace".

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The Labour MSP wholeheartedly backs the call to halt the roll-out of Universal Credit until the problems are resolved.

Mr Findlay says this issue has led to people taking their own lives.

He commends the Scottish government for pressing the UK government to halt the roll-out of UC.

SNP MSP Sandra White thanks Labour MSP Alex Rowley for giving the chamber "the opportunity to call the Tories out for what they are."

Ms White says the Social Security Commttee witnessed a woman burst into tears during a visit to a job centre as she received a text saying her benefits would be cut.

"It is a diabolical mess and it needs to be sorted now," she says, adding "it is a mess and it is killing people."

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Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton says he supports the motion from Alex Rowley, as on Universal Credit it addresses "the human cost of the inadequacies of its roll-out".

Mr Cole-Hamilton says the six week wait for a first payment is pushing families into crisis.

total halt on any further roll-out of UC until the problems are addressed.

SNP MSP Clare Adamson says the United Nations said that this will be a humanitarian catastrophe delivered on the people of the UK by their own government.

Ms Adamson says Universal Credit were potentially in rent arrears from the minute they applied with five-week waiting times being reported for claims.

The SNP MSP says for the Tories are "picking the pockets of the Scottish people."

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Green MSP Alison Johnstone says her constituents in Musselburgh know more about the"botched roll-out of Universal Credit" as it was one of the first test areas.

Ms Johnstone says the issues around the implementation of UC are only part of a much bigger problem.

She says there are a whole raft of benefit cuts within UC.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay says "Universal Credit is a euphemism for more Tory austerity."

Ms Mackay says Universal Credit has got off to a "terrible start" and that the fears were well knows before it was introduced.

The SNP MSP says "to err is human but to compound a mistake is simply madness."

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Labour MSP Pauline McNeill says it is no wonder Jeremy Balfour would not take an intervention as "Universal Credit roll-out is an unmitigated disaster".

Ms McNeill says the references to foodbanks in Musselburgh is the highest north of the border which is no co-incidents.

Musselburgh job centre was one of the first areas in Scotland to roll out Universal Credit.

Ms McNeill says there must be action on this serious issue.

Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour says the scale of change of welfare over the past few years has been dramatic.

Mr Balfour says "the current benefit system is extremely complex."

He says there is support for a universal system that is less complex than the current system and that the Universal Credit system can achieve this.

The Tory MSP says people are moving into work faster under Universal Credit and that there are going to be operational difficulties with any new system.

"I support the roll-out of Universal credit," he says.

SNP MSP Christina McKelvie says her constituents in South Lanarkshire are the next to be affected by this universal credit roll-out.

Ms McKelvie says people, not "customers", are being left for up to seven weeks without any welfare.

She says that she has just heard from foodbank staff in her area that some users were left for 12 weeks without welfare.

The SNP MSP says the forms to claim this benefit are designed to be difficult and exclude the needy.