The first minister says in December 2018 a disability employment action plan was published by the Scottish government to reduce the employment gap by half.

Although there has been a small reduction in the gap in recent years, there is still more to do, she accepts.

Mr McMillan suggests more modern apprenticeships could be one way of increase the number of disabled people in employment.

The first minister agrees, highlighting 3,700 modern apprentice starts who self-identified as having a disability.

Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour says the government is "failing disabled people" on the employment gap.

Ms Sturgeon again highlights that the gap has reduced but adds that the government does want to drive this down further.

Given pressures of disabled people due to welfare cuts, we must all recognise the responsibility to treat disabled people with dignity and support them into employment she says,

SNP MSP Stuart McMillan asks what the Scottish government is doing to reduce the disability employment gap.

Image source, Alamy

Disabled employees are paid 12.2% less than their non-disabled peers, according to official data.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that in 2018 the median pay for non-disabled workers was £12.11 an hour, against £10.63 for disabled.

London had the widest disability pay gap at 15.3%, with the narrowest in Scotland, at 8.3%.

The gap was the widest for those in their 30s and 40s, the ONS said in its report, external.

Read more.

Labour MSP Jenny Marra says three people have just lost their lives in Dundee due to drugs.

Scotland's drugs death rate is rising, says the Labour MSP and she calls for life-saving recommendations to be implemented as soon as possible.

The first minister says the government is determined to introduce the changes and give the support necessary to address this issue.

Tory MSP Liam Kerr returns to the travails of the SPA, disagreeing that there is no crisis and repeating quotes from Susan Deacon's resignation letter saying governance was "fundamentally flawed".

He calls for an immediate review into what is wrong with her "government's mess" with another senior resignation.

The first minister insists there are improvements being made according to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland.

Green MSP Ross Greer asks about funding given to Chemring Energetic which is linked to bomb manufacturing. Ms Sturgeon offers to provided the member with more information, but insists the government does not directly or indirectly providing funding for manufacturing of munitions.

SNP MSP Clare Adamson raises the risk of leaving the EU on NHS staffing. Ms Sturgeon says this warning should be taken seriously and urges all politicians to reject policies which end freedom of movement or create a hostile environment.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay raises redundancies announced by CS Wind in Campbeltown. Ms Sturgeon points to support being offered to the workforce and efforts being made to generate economic activity in places such as Campbeltown.

Tory Annie Wells asks how many children and young people in Scotland are having to wait more than a year for mental health treatment. "Too many," replies Ms Sturgeon, before pointing to investment in the sector including putting more counsellors in schools and communities.

SNP MSP Keith Brown seeks a response to ONS figures cutting life expectancy projections for children in the UK. Ms Sturgeon says this is alarming, saying the UK government reforms have pushed more children into poverty.

Mr Rennie says a third of police officers are turning up to work mentally unwell and the first minister is in "cloud cuckoo land" if she is satisfied with this situation.

He says violent crime is on the rise and the first minister says the SPA is sound.

The Scottish Lib Dem leader says centralisation has undermined our police and he calls for the "Police Act" to be scrapped.

Ms Sturgeon says the government is working to support the health and wellbeing of the police, citing 1,000 extra police officers on the streets of Scotland.

The first minister adds that her government has delivered the best pay rise of any police service across the UK.

She says that given the leader of the Lib Dems was forced to apologise for her party's support of austerity last night, she thought Willie Rennie might have had more humility when talking about public services.

Returning to the resignation of Susan Deacon, Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie says "the police is in crisis once again."

He says there is a "toxic mix of chaos and complacency".

The police is not in crisis, replies Ms Sturgeon, and she adds it does officers a disservice to say so.

She says the SPA will get on with the job of responding to recommendations made to improve governance and accountability.

Image source, KEVIN GRANT/MOSSMORRAN ACTION GROUP

The Scottish Green Party co-leader says Mossmorran is the second biggest polluter in Scotland.

Mr Harvie says the people demand actions and a just transition and a green new deal for Fife.

The Just Transition Commission was established to do just that and it is under way, replies Ms Sturgeon.

The first minister cites government funding for support for renewable energy.

Image source, bbc

Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie says Exxon has failed to maintain the Mossmoran plant, leading to frequent flaring.

The plant is currently shut but a restart is imminent, he states.

He says the community should at least be given a break over the holidays but the company has only committed to not restarting between Christmas eve and Boxing Day.

Ms Sturgeon says she will look to discuss this with Sepa, accepting that this is a reasonable request from communities.

She added that the frequency of unplanned flaring has been unacceptable, and Sepa and the Health and Safety Executive have been monitoring the plan.

SNP MSP Angus Macdonald calls for those who have worked to reconnect houses in the Falkirk area to their gas supply.

Mr Macdonald says there are less than 250 of the houses from the original 8,000 who remain unconnected.

The first minister thanks everyone who has worked to safely reconnect supplies, for their Herculean effort.

Gas distribution company SGN faces a six-figure compensation bill after 8,000 homes in the Falkirk area were left without gas following an outage.

SNP MSP Christine Grahame raises concern that the Borderline helpline for mental health problems will lose its funding. The first minister encourages local councils to undertake full consultation and consider the implication of such decisions.

Tory MSP Edward Mountain asks when work on the new elective care centre in Inverness will begin. Ms Sturgeon says she will ensure the information is passed to him by the health secretary.

Lib Dem MSP Beatrice Wishart raises the legal challenge to the Northern Isles ferry service contract. The first minister says it is not appropriate for her to go into detail about the issues but the government is confident about the decisions it has taken.

• The Scottish government is being sued by the publicly-owned ferry operator CalMac in a dispute over services to the Northern Isles.

Mr Leonard says the first minister has toured TV studios boasting about her record in government despite issues with the NHS and police which he cites.

He asks when the first minister will finally take responsibility and apologise to the people and accept none of Scotland’s public services can be trusted in her government’s hands.

Ms Sturgeon hits back, saying crime is at one of its lowest levels in decades and there are 1,000 more police officers on the streets.

She believes the people of Scotland will continue to put their trust in the SNP.

Mr Leonard says the first minister is right that in September the HM Inspectorate of the Constabulary did publish a report on the SPA.

But he argues it found the SPA was failing to hold the chief constable to account, failing on local scrutiny and failing on transparency.

He asks what action the first minister took following the publication of this report to ensure adequate scrutiny.

The first minister says the SPA is taking forward changes in response to the HM Inspectorate and this parliament.

The model of governance of the police service is the right one, she insists.

Image source, Getty Images

Prof Susan Deacon has resigned as chair of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and issued a strong condemnation of the way Police Scotland is governed.

In her resignation letter, she called the system "fundamentally flawed".

Ms Deacon was Labour MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh from 1999 to 2007 and served as Scottish health minister.

When she was appointed in 2017, then justice secretary Michael Matheson said she would "bring a fresh perspective to the governance of Scottish policing".

• The SPA's turbulent beginnings
• Police complaints system 'should be speeded up'
• 'Unacceptable' failings at police body

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard asks for response to comments from Susan Deacon who has said the governance and accountability arrangements for policing in Scotland are fundamentally flawed.

Nicola Sturgeon confirms that Susan Deacon has resigned and says she is very grateful for the work she has done.

The first minister points to the police service being in a much stronger place than three years ago.

The SPA will continue with the reforms going forward, she adds.

This is a more lamentable response that I expected form a first minister that wanted to be judged on education, hits back Mr Carlaw.

Confidence in this government is plummeting, he adds, briefly referring to today's news about the resignation of Susan Deacon from the SPA.

"How much more government failures does Scotland have to endure?" he asks.

The first minister says less than half of pupils left school with a Higher qualification when her government took office, but that figure is now two-thirds.

She also refers to satisfaction with the quality of education.

She adds that it is a bit rich for Mr Carlaw to stand up and talk about the quality of public services given that his party introduced austerity.