That's all from Holyrood Live on Tuesday 4 June 2019.

Inside the parliament the day was dominated by prison sentences, focusing in the Justice Committee on the presumption against sentences of 12 months and under.

Then the Tories led a debate in the afternoon calling for whole life custody sentences, although there motion was amended to highlight judges can hand down sentences that go beyond the expected life of the offender.

However, somewhat unusually, the story of the day was perhaps outside Holyrood - or at least attached to it!

Image source, bbc

A group of environmental activists chained themselves to the Scottish Parliament to urge "radical" action over climate change.

The Extinction Rebellion group sent keys to each of Holyrood's parties in a bid to force them to discuss policy.

They were successful, with MSPs including Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham coming out to speak to them - and unchain them.

At the same time there was a protest calling for the world to take notice and "stop the genocide" in Sudan.

Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey says it is vital that people with all stages of dementia have access to the health services they need.

This right is regardless of whether they are at home, in residential care or in specialist care, she states.

Drawing on her own experience as a nurse on an elderly ward, she says most of the people she treated would now be at home or in a homely setting.

The Scottish government will explore the cost of social care as part of the reform programme, the minister confirms.

Delivery social and health care to people with dementia is a high priority for this government, she insists.

Image source, bbc

Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur highlights the work of Dementia Friendly Orkney and the plans on the island for Dementia Awareness Week.

Mr McArthur says Alzheimer Scotland make clear in their report too many people with advanced dementia are not receiving the care that they need.

They need free healthcare on the same par as people with other conditions get, he adds.

Image source, Edinburgh University

Scottish researchers have received funding to explore what could be a new way of treating Alzheimer's.

The team from the UK Dementia Research Institute at Edinburgh University have received £160,000 from Alzheimer's Research UK.

They want to use the funding to investigate nerve damage caused by Alzheimer's, which causes the symptoms of dementia.

Over 70,000 Scots live with dementia. Alzheimer's causes two thirds of cases.

Read more.

Labour MSP Monica Lennon says the number of people with dementia in Scotland is rising.

It is "simply unacceptable" that some people are not getting the healthcare they need, she says.

Social care can provide additional support but it should not be used when healthcare should be, Ms Lennon argues.

She agrees that people should have access to the care they need, free at the point of delivery, including when they have a terminal illness.

Image source, Getty Images

The World Health Organization has launched its first ever guidelines on how people can help avoid getting dementia.

It looked at the evidence of what works and what doesn't for lowering risk.

Things to avoid include smoking and drinking too much alcohol.

While eating a healthy diet is beneficial, popping vitamin pills makes no difference to dementia risk, it advises.

Read the full guidelines here.

Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour says thanks to medical science, people are living longer with dementia.

But that comes with a greater pressure on families, friends and others supporting the person, he states.

Looking across the 32 local authorities in Scotland it is clear there is not equality and we must have a debate on how much we must set out in national standards, he argues.

As we continue to design the social security system, we must also ensure people who have dementia are not left behind the Tory MSP concludes.

Image source, Getty Images

Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our time, the charity Alzheimer's Research UK has warned.

Dementia was first described by the German doctor Alois Alzheimer in 1906 after he performed an autopsy on a woman with profound memory loss.

What he found was a dramatically shrunken brain and abnormalities in and around nerve cells.

At the time dementia was rare and was then barely studied for decades.

But today somebody is diagnosed with it every three seconds,, external it is the biggest killer in some wealthier countries and is completely untreatable.

So what is this disease? Why is it becoming more common? And is there any hope?

Read more.

Image source, bbc

SNP MSP Richard Lyle highlights the work of the cross-party group on dementia and commends the courage of those who have participated in its discussions with their personal stories.

Mr Lye also commends the excellent report Delivering Fair Dementia Care for People with Advanced Dementia, external from Alzheimer Scotland, external.

Image source, Alz Scot

The SNP MSP goes on to say there are people with advanced dementia who are not getting the support they deserve and he calls for the medical condition to be recognised.

People with dementia are facing a disproportionate financial hit compared to other degenerative diseases, he adds.

The SNP MSP insists now is the time to act to provide the same level of care and support, free at the point of use, as people with other illnesses get.

Image source, Getty Images

People with advanced dementia do not have equality of access to healthcare, the Fair Dementia Care Commission has concluded.

Instead, people are receiving a mainly social care response.

This has led to people with advanced dementia being charged for social care for health and nursing needs.

And £50.9m is being paid in social care charges for care which doesn’t provide the health or nursing care they require.

Read the full report here., external

SNP MSP Richard Lyle highlights a recent report about care for people with advanced dementia.

Here is his motion...

Image source, Scottish Parliament

The Scottish government amendment is agreed with 59 votes for, 51 against and six abstentions.

The Labour amendment is not agreed with 51 votes for and 65 against.

The Tory motion, now eclipsed by the government amendment, passes with 59 votes to 51. Six MSPs abstained again.

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Image source, bbc

The government amendment is agreed to with 70 MSPs backing it 28 against and with 18 abstentions.

This means the Labour amendment below falls.

Image source, bbc

Thus the Scottish Tory motion below is all but obliterated by the amendment and it is duly passed with 88 MSPs backing it and 28 against.

Image source, bbc

Image source, Getty Images

Official figures from the Scottish government show the economy grew by 1.3% in 2018.

Growth is close to the UK figure of 1.4%.

The latest publication, external from Scotland's chief statistician confirms the original estimate of 0.3% growth in the final quarter, but revises downwards the overall 2018 figure from 1.4%.

The report indicates the services sector and construction continued to grow, but production fell by 0.8%

Read more.

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland's economy has been growing more interlinked with that of the European Union as a whole since the Brexit referendum.

That's according to a report by the Fraser of Allander Institute, which updates an analysis carried out for the GMB union and published in November 2017.

That previous report showed 135,000 jobs were linked to demand from the European Union for Scottish exports.

That relates to £14.9bn-worth of goods and services sold to the other 27 member states.

Read more.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie begins by welcoming Richard Leonard's comments regarding Brexit because it is "pivotal" in the debate on skills.

A key part of economic sustainability is participation which is why the early years and education are so important, he tells the chamber.

The threat of Brexit and independence are "both as bad as each other" he argues, and he says "we need to make it stop" if Scotland is to achieve more.

Mr Rennie suggests there is a fear that ending freedom of movement will cut us off from skilled people, but he also insists there are domestic problems with firms cutting investment in training.

Image source, bbc

Scottish Green co-convener Patrick Harvie says his party has long argued against the fixation on economic growth that prioritises private riches over public wealth.

Mr Harvie says focusing on GDP growth fails to recognise the need to share economic benefits and avoid the negative impact of growth.

The Green MSP insists that the canard that work is the way out of poverty is broken as the quality of work matters as well.

He warns against continuing this "extracting and polluting" economy.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

Image source, Getty Images

A feature of newly devolved income tax powers is that forecast revenue and actual tax take has to be reconciled, and that means big adjustments from next year.

Blaming austerity or mismanagement of the economy is some way wide of the mark. This has more to do with dodgy data, and unexpected success in collecting tax.

However, there is a strong case for more sophisticated management of Holyrood's budgets, particularly as some welfare spending is devolved.

Read more analysis here.