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Tory MSP Brian Whittle asks whether any research has been done about the impact of transferring ferry services in the south west of Scotland.

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SNP MSP Christine Grahame raises concerns about the Care Inspectorate report of services for older people in the Borders.

Ms Sturgeon says she was very disappointed that the report says services have fallen short of the high standard patients should expect.

Tory MSP Oliver Mundell raises the issue of EME Furniture which has closed its doors after 50 years with significant job losses.

The first minister says procurement has been made more transparent.

She says she was very disappointed to hear of the closure of EME Furniture.

Mr Rowley says he understands Ms Sturgeon's point about mitigation for the Tory welfare cuts and he says the answer is an election and putting Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10.

The Scottish Labour interim leader says if the first minister will not take action to heed the call from Macmillan Cancer Support call, Labour will table amendments to the Social Security Bill to address it.

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The first minister says she agrees with Mr Rowley about the Tories, saying that watching the letters fall off the wall as Theresa May was making her conference speech yesterday was like watching an episode of Fawlty Towers.

Ms Sturgeon says Labour is still in a position where it would prefer to see the continuation of a Tory government than work with the SNP.

She says: "We will look at all ways we can mitigate welfare cuts."

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The health of cancer patients is being put at risk by a benefits cut that came into force six months ago, according to a leading cancer charity.

Macmillan Cancer Support is calling on the Scottish government to use new powers to reverse UK government cuts to Employment Support Allowance (ESA).

It claims 280 cancer patients in Scotland have lost out on £120 a month since April.

The Scottish government said Westminster should reverse the cuts.

Ministers at Holyrood have the power to "top-up" reserved benefits like ESA, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 2016.

A spokeswoman said it had taken action to mitigate welfare reforms like the so-called "bedroom tax" but it wanted to see the UK government make the changes to ESA.

Meanwhile, the Westminster government insisted that the "vast majority" of people receiving or recovering from chemotherapy or radiotherapy received a higher rate of support.

Read more here.

Mr Rowley says we learned this morning from Macmillan Cancer Support about the cuts to Employment Support Allowance hitting people with cancer.

Mr Rowley calls on the first minister to reverse these cuts.

The first minister says the government will act where it can to mitigate the impact of welfare cuts, and that she has significant concerns about Universal Credit.

Ms Sturgeon says the government will look carefully at the call from Macmillan Cancer Support.

She says any mitigation means taking money from other parts of the Scottish budget and the Scottish government can't mitigate against all the welfare cuts.

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Universal credit has proved controversial almost from the beginning, with reports of IT issues, massive overspends and administrative problems.

Read more here.

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MSPs have voted to formally call on the UK government to halt the rollout of Universal Credit.

The new welfare system, which combines the likes of housing benefit and tax credits into a single payment, was described as "fundamentally flawed".

UK ministers have made some tweaks to the system in a bid to assuage concerns about how long claimants have to wait.

But MSPs voted by 75 to 23 to call on the government to "immediately halt" the rollout due to "clear failings".

Universal Credit is being implemented gradually across the UK, but the process is to be accelerated from October with 50 jobcentres a month to be added.

• Read more here
• Look back on the Universal Credit debate on Holyrood Live

Scottish Labour interim leader Alex Rowley says Holyrood voted earlier this week in favour of a halt to the rollout of Universal Credit.

Mr Rowley says Universal Credit is flawed and the six week delay of payments is damaging.

He calls on Ms Sturgeon to make strong representations to stop the rollout of Universal Credit.

The first minister says: "Yes we will."

She says the Scottish government has already been doing that.

Ms Sturgeon says the delays in payments are causing huge misery, stress and anxiety.

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Ms Sturgeon says the Scottish government takes a range of different actions to reduce knife crime

The first minister highlights the No Knives Better Lives campaign which has received £3m since 2009.

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Ms Davidson says nearly half of councils were unable to confirm how many weapons were confiscated.

She says there is no meaningful picture of the extent of the problem and she calls on the response of Aberdeen City Council to Bailey's death to be emulated by all councils.

The first minister agrees she would like to see all councils follow best practice.

In June we reported that more than 200 incidents of young people having weapons - more a quarter of which were in schools - were recorded in the north east of Scotland in the space of a year.

Police Scotland said 207 were recorded between April last year and March this year, with just over a third involving a blade.

A total of 55 involved schools.

The average age of the children in schools was 12 ,and 93% of them were boys.

Of the schools, 29 were in Aberdeen, 15 in Aberdeenshire and 11 in Moray.

Of the 55 school incidents, 19 were recorded as a crime resulting in the youth being charged.

Police Scotland said a small number of young people admitted they were carrying a weapon to threaten another person or for self harm.

An increased focus on the issue was said to have contributed to a rise in reporting.

Read more here.

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Ms Davidson says schools must record searches of a child, and asks for assurances that all local authorities are doing this.

Ms Sturgeon says it is up to councils to adhere to the guidance.

The first minister says this includes young people being searched and found to be carrying weapons.

She says it is fundamentally for councils to ensure this happens.

A fatal stabbing at an Aberdeen school was "potentially avoidable" if teachers had been told a pupil carried weapons, an inquiry has found.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil during a fight at Cults Academy on 28 October last year.

His killer, who cannot be named, was later jailed for nine years after being found guilty of culpable homicide.

The report said the Scottish government should consider legal changes to give teachers more power to search pupils.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said the Scottish government would consider the findings and report back in due course.

Read more here.

Ms Davidson brings up the tragic case of Bailey Gwynne in Aberdeen.

The first minister says Ms Davidson is right to bring up the report into the schoolboy's death.

She says the report recommended increasing resilience of safety in schools.

Ms Sturgeon says stakeholders do not support the introduction of a new search power being given to teachers.