That's all from us on the Holyrood Live team today.

The Scottish government's tax and spending plans for the next year passed their final parliamentary hurdle.

The budget includes major changes to Scotland's income tax rates and bands, which will see middle and high earners pay more and lower earners pay less.

The minority SNP government struck a deal with the Scottish Greens last month that gave them enough support to pass the budget.

The final vote was 70 to 56.

Image source, bbc

Labour MSP Neil Findlay raises a point of order at the completion of the debate saying NHS Lothian has not briefed MSPs for over nine months.

Mr Findlay goes on to say he has written to the board twice and not recieve a reply.

The minister says MSPs should request a briefing from the health board.

Image source, Google

Labour MSP Neil Findlay says people should be able to expect progress after six years.

Shona Robison responds that progress had been made, with the process for appointing a seventh new consultant currently underway.

There has to be a good vision for the service and the hospital must be promoted in order to attract doctors from around the world, she states.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs calls for the cabinet secretary to update parliament on this issue, suggesting there has been a lack of information.

Ms Robison says she will pass the issues raised during this debate onto NHS Lothian and confirms she will keep members fully informed of recruitment efforts.

Image source, bbc

Health Secretary Shona Robison says the A&E service continues and a wide range of children's services remain available in West Lothian.

Ms Robison says NHS Lothian has taken a number of steps on paediatric consultant recruitment.

She says the board is determined to put in a safe rota to allow the 24/7 children's service to be reinstgated, which requires eight consultants.

The board is not "shrugging its shoulders" says the minister.

She says the recruitment efforts and success have got the board quite far down the road to the level called for in the recommendations.

Health Secretary Shona Robison notes the government was told last July that paediatric staffing levels had put hospital safety at risk, hence the decision to close it to in-patients.

She reiterates that the ward continues to run the majority if its services, with the children's ward being open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday.

Ms Robison notes that despite original plans to redirect patients to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at weekends, it has been able to maintain a daytime weekend rota on all but three occasions since July.

Day surgery activities and planned day procedures continue, adds the cabinet secretary, while neonatal, community and A&E services have been unaffected.

Image source, Google

Last June, the BBC reported that the children's ward at St John's Hospital was to close to inpatients as a result of staff shortages.

The ward, which has been shut on previous occasions, closed to in-patients from 7 July.

Children are still assessed in the unit from Monday to Friday between 8am and 8pm.

NHS Lothian said the closure was not permanent but it has yet to fully return to a 24/7 service.

Image source, bbc

Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton pays tribute to the campaigners who have worked tirelessly to keep the issue of children's services at St John's.

Mr Cole-Hamilton says this debate should have been brought by the Scottish government and not left to a member's debate.

He says the children's ward at St John's is surviving day to day.

Sick children need and deserve certainty he says, but that is not being provided.

"For the past six years this government has been found wanting."

"Enough is enough."

Green MSP Alison Johnstone says she supports the recommendations in the report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health on St John's.

She says the "serious shortage" of paediatricians needs to be tackled and calls for access to medical degrees to be widened.

Ms Johnstone argues that in the meantime NHS Lothian must put arrangements in place to ensure staff can be temporarily moved to St John's.

Image source, bbc

Labour MSP Anas Sarwar says the continued closure of the ward and the continued inaction of the Scottish government and the health board is what is letting people down, not the campaigners who he pays tribute to.

Mr Sarwar says there should be a 24.7 inpatient children's service at St John's.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs suggests the ward is "nowhere near reopening" and highlights the increasing pressure it is placing on the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

The current approaches are not working he says, also highlighting problems have lasted six years.

He suggests allowing junior medics to undertake some of their training at St John's may alleviate some of the pressure.

Mr Briggs confirms he intends to write to the deanery on this and urges the cabinet secretary to back him.

Image source, bbc

Mr Findlay says children's lives are at stake.

The Labour MSP calls on the cabinet secretary to seek help to resolve this unacceptable situation and calls for an apology.

Image source, Getty Images

In June 2016, an independent report concluded St John's Hospital should continue treating sick children as well as adults.

Issue with staffing levels had led to the temporary closure of the ward on several occasions prior to the report.

It had been proposed that all children could travel to a new children's hospital being built in Edinburgh.

But an independent review has recommended children's services be retained in Edinburgh and Livingston.

However, it was dependent upon staff agreeing to provide more out-of-hours cover.

Labour MSP Neil Findlay says: "I wish that a decade-long promise by the SNP government to keep healthcare local were more than slogans on the long-discarded leaflets".

Noting St John's has had to close previously, Mr Findlay says this latest closure - which began 230 days ago - is the longest and most worrying.

Every second spent in traffic in an ambulance as children are sent to other hospitals puts their lives more at risk, he warns.

The Labour MSP says if senior officers at the NHS and ministers cannot resolve the problem after six years, they should hand over the reigns.

Image source, bbc

Use our Budget calculator,developed by Deloitte, external, to find out how the tax measures may affect you in the coming year.

It includes the new Scottish income tax brackets for 2018/19, so you can see how much tax you will pay depending on where you live in the UK.

Some changes will not be seen until future financial years and are not included in this calculator.

Click here to use the calculator.

Image source, PA

Labour MSP Neil Findlay's motion highlights the closure of the ward to out-of-hours inpatients on several occasions and pressures on staff due to shortages.

It urges NHS Lothian and the Scottish government to establish a staffing model in response to these issues.

Image source, Scottish parliament