Image source, Getty Images

That's all from Holyrood Live on Tuesday 11 June 2019.

MSPs passed the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill, external with 116 MSPs voting for it, three voting against and with two abstentions.

It will shift Scotland to a soft "opt-out" system for organ donation.

At present, people must opt in to the system in order to donate their organs for transplants after they die.

MSPs also passed the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill, external, with unanimity this time.

Image source, bbc

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop says she hopes this debate has raised an important aspect of tourism that is not always at the forefront of what Scotland has to offer.

Ms Hyslop says walking the same paths as these faithful people walked so long ago allows us to walk in their footsteps.

She says pilgrims ways help us to connect with our history and fantastic landscapes.

The three MSPs who voted against the bill which will introduce an opt-out organ donation system were:

• Christine Grahame (SNP)
• Gordon Lindhurst (Con)
• Oliver Mundell (Con)

Two further Tory MSPs abstained: Michelle Ballantyne and Alison Harris.

Image source, J Lutwyche

According to Mr Fraser, the Way of St Andrew plus other pilgrimage sites:

• St Columba’s Way
• St Duthac’s Way
• St Margaret’s Elbow
• St Margaret’s Loop
• the Rosslyn Chapel Way
• the Ladywell Way
• St Ninian’s Way
• St Wilfrid’s Way

........are attracting increasing numbers of visitors, bringing an annual expenditure of almost £170 million per year.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser begins his debate on pilgrimages by admitting he has not been on a pilgrimage himself - "unless you count to Ibrox!"

These walks attract thousands of people a year he says.

Mr Fraser highlights there are six pilgrimage ways running to St Andrews which are expected to raise £2.5m for the city in five years time.

The Tory MSP also points to the spiritual and fitness benefits of long walking trails and pilgrimages.

Image source, bbc

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser is now leading a member's debate marking the inclusion of the Way of St Andrews on being included by VisitScotland in the brochure, Walk in Scotland 2019, external.

Image source, VisitScotland

The earliest missionary to St Andrews is thought to have been Saint Kenneth, establishing a base for the church around AD570 in Kilrymont.

The history of the town can be traced through its religious sites and places of worship.

Kilrymont was re-named St Andrews after Saint Andrew's relics were brought to the town in the Middle Ages.

The great cathedral of St Andrews was built to house the relics as the town became the focus of pilgrimage.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

MSPs pass the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill, external with 116 MSPs voting for it, three voting against and with two abstentions.

It will shift Scotland to a soft "opt-out" system for organ donation.

At present, people must opt in to the system in order to donate their organs for transplants after they die.

Image source, Getty Images

MSPs unanimously pass the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill, external.

The bill will:

1. Set a new target of reducing the proportion of Scottish households in fuel poverty to no more than 5% by 2040
2. Provide a new definition of fuel poverty
3. Require the Scottish Government to publish a fuel poverty strategy, and report on its progress every five years

Image source, NHS Blood and Transplant

The Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill, external follows similar legislation passed in Wales in 2015, and allows parts of an adult's body to be used in transplants in the absence of express permission.

However, it includes provisions to make sure the wishes of families and next of kin continue to be respected, and excludes children and adults who do not have the capacity to understand the rules.

MSPs considered an opt-out system in the previous parliamentary term, but narrowly rejected a member's bill from Labour's Anne McTaggart due to "serious concerns" about the "practical impact of the specific details".

Ministers promised to consider the idea, and have brought forward their own legislation with the backing of British Medical Association Scotland and 82% of respondents in a consultation.

We now move to decision time where two bills are expected to be passed today.

Image source, bbc

SNP MSP Christine Grahame points out the words "donation" and "presumed consent" have been displaced in this bill by "transplantation" and "deemed authorisation".

She suggests this is to assuage concerns and she points out you cannot gift an organ if you have not indicated in life you wish to be a donor.

In her view that is why this re-badging has taken place and she says the greater deceit is to argue presumed consent and deemed authorisation are not one and the same thing.

Neither authorisation or consent can be presumed and it is wrong for the state to do so she insists.

She says she will not support the bill at decision time.

Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles explains he voted against the bill at Stage 1 because he was concerned that the wishes of the potential donor might in some cases be ignored.

He specifically refers to a section of the bill which he suggests would have raised the evidential bar for families who knew donor wishes.

An amendment to the bill fixed the problem, the Lib Dem MSP explains, and he praises the public health minister for listening despite not actually needing his vote the bill the to pass today.

I am more than happy to support the bill at decision time now, he states.