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The Herald has reported..., external

"The Scottish government is preparing to shelve flagship legislation intended to give more power to schools, claims suggest.

"The Herald understands John Swinney, the Education Secretary, will publish a draft Education Bill today - but could delay its introduction for up to a year to see whether councils improve performance without a change in the law.

"The Bill was intended to introduce a new Headteachers’ Charter giving school leaders the power to set the curriculum, hire staff and control their own finances."

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Finance Secretary John Swinney will now give an ministerial statement on Scotland's education reforms.

Scottish Green co-convener Patrick Harvie says the SNP's position is "risible".

"More flights means more emissions," he argues.

Mr Harvie insists the third runway proposals blows a hole in Scottish and UK climate change policies.

Mr Yousaf asserts the Scottish government's climate change targets are world leading.

MPs will be looking for assurances from the UK government, he adds.

Mr Greene asks why SNP MPs abstained on the third runway vote while the Scottish government claims to back it.

Who made the order, he asks.

Our MPs are absolutely right to demand guarantees and information on the environment, Mr Yousaf responds.

Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles asks what it the first minister who instructed SNP MPs to abstain.

The minister does not answer the question.

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Transport Minister Humza Yousaf welcomes the move but insists Scotland must benefit proportionately from the third runway and must receive guarantees.

Mr Yousaf points out these are still awaited.

Mr Greene insists expansion at Heathrow will bring "signficant benefits" to Scotland, citing those as the words of outgoing Economy Secretary Keith Brown.

Mr Yousaf says: "Yes we still support the third runway at Heathrow."

Our MPS are entirely right to get "cast iron guarantees" from the UK government he insists.

He points out Boris Johnson did not so much as lie down before a bulldozer to prevent a third runway, he flew away.

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The SNP has withdrawn its support for a third runway at Heathrow airport, hours before a key Commons vote on the move.

But the UK government persuaded MPs to give the go-ahead for a third runway, which they say would boost the number of flights to and from Scotland.

The Commons supported the government's plan by 415 votes to 119, a majority of 296.

The Scottish government has been a longtime backer of the plans, and was still behind them on Sunday.

Read more here.

Tory MSP Jamie Greene asks what the government's response is to the result of the UK Parliament's vote on Heathrow expansion and its implications for Scotland.

Tory MSP Jamie Greene asks about options available to ensure the ScotRail "can and will" meet contractual obligations.

Mr Yousaf points to progress being made on some areas such as stop skipping, though he accepts more must be done on punctuality.

They are nowhere near the level they would have to be to be considered a breach of contract, he argues.

Green MSP John Finnie asks about progress on a public sector bid.

Mr Yousaf replies: "Watch this space closely. We promise to make an announcement on that very very shortly."

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Transport Minister Humza Yousaf replies 90 out of 100 trains still arrive within the target and ScoRail is the best operator in the UK.

Mr Yousaf adds: "Of course we'll be pushing ScotRail to meet their targets.

"It is not acceptable they are missing their targets."

Mr Yousaf insists the results are "not a catastrophic decline in performance by any measure".

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According to the Times:

ScotRail has come in for fresh criticism after figures showed it missed performance targets throughout the past year.

The operator is required to have a specific percentage of trains arrive on time during 13 periods of the year, but it fell short throughout 2017-18.

The public performance measure (PPM), which looks at the punctuality and reliability of services, varies across each period.

In the first section of 2017-18, PPM was 90.4% against a target of 91.35%, while in the final period of the year it went down to 89.5%, with a target of 91.9%.

The closest performance to the target happened during the sixth period of the year, when PPM was 91.2% - 0.38% below the target.

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Labour MSP Colin Smyth asks what its response is to reports that ScotRail missed its punctuality targets for every reporting period in the last year.

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Reverend Maurice Callaghan, the parish priest from St John the Baptist, Port Glasgow gives today's time for reflection.

Economy Secretary Keith Brown is leaving the Scottish government in order to concentrate upon his party campaigning role.

Mr Brown was elected deputy leader of the SNP a month ago.

The news comes as the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon prepares to reshuffle her Cabinet.

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Details are expected this afternoon.

It's also been confirmed that the finance secretary Derek Mackay will relinquish his role as the SNP's business convener, after the party's annual conference in October.

Mr Mackay has held that role for seven years.