Here are the headlines from this week's party leaders' FMQs:

• Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord said there had been a lot of "bad news" from the Scottish government in the last few weeks, including poverty figures, Pisa scores on education and record drug deaths, and criticised drugs minister Maree Todd.
• Swinney said he takes "all responsibility for issues handled by his government" and the issues which are debated in parliament are all important.
• Scottish Labour's Michael Marra called the SNP's plans for public service reform "a gathering mess" and asked for clarity on the devolution of Scottish government powers to communities.
• Swinney said he wants the rest of Scotland to be able to benefit from the £2 bus fare cap as "quickly as we can do" after Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer called for it to be rolled out by the end of the year.
• Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay claimed cheating of the benefits system in Scotland is "rampant" and said Swinney will have to raise taxes if he will not cut benefits.

• Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said two care-experienced people have died "before their times" in the last 10 days and many have been failed by the system.
• The FM said The Promise - the government's plan to help care-experienced children - must be kept and public service reform will see person-centred solutions which will benefit care-experienced people.

That's all for today. The editor was Paul McLaren and the writers were Megan Bonar and Claire Thomson.

Thanks for joining us.

It's not always easy to keep a Promisepublished at 14:47 BST 1 October

14:47 BST 1 October

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

The fifth opposition party leader landed on the fifth different line of questioning of the day, with Alex Cole-Hamilton majoring on the Scottish government’s “Promise” to improve the lives of people who have been in care.

It’s an emotive topic, with the Lib Dem leader warning that people are losing their lives.

But it is one which is all too often discussed in slightly baffling terms, with Swinney stating that under his public service reform agenda, “care-experienced young people” are being offered “person-centred solutions”.

One cannot doubt the sincerity on both sides on this weighty topic - the government absolutely wants to do its best by people who have been in care, and the opposition wants to push them to do better.

The original “Promise” was a thing of admirable clarity and simplicity - but delivering on it appears to have become a more complex business.

Cole-Hamilton says two care-experienced people have died “before their times” in the last 10 days.

He says: “We don’t know how many of them have been failed by the system,” adding his party has asked the government to track and publish this information three times.

Swinney says public service reforms will see person-centred solutions which will benefit care-experienced people "to enable them to achieve better outcomes".

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton asks about the Scottish government’s policy, The Promise, which aims to make the lives of care-experienced children better by 2030.

Cole-Hamilton says the government promised to give care-experienced kids “love and hope” but the “window to deliver that promise is fast closing”.

It comes after a report into the policy found the government is running out of time to improve the care system.

Swinney says he agrees The Promise must be kept and that significant progress has been made.

Image source, scottish parliament tv

Findlay and Swinney in tune - but not for longpublished at 14:38 BST 1 October

14:38 BST 1 October

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

There are not many topics where Russell Findlay and John Swinney are in agreement, but the triple lock on pensions turns out to be one of them.

That nods to the fact the Tories and the SNP are fairly unanimous in their dislike of the Labour UK government.

There was little time to linger on this outbreak of consensus though, with Findlay immediately pivoting to topics where he profoundly disagrees with Swinney - benefits and taxation.

And John Swinney then moved things onto the ultimate point of division between the parties, by bringing up Scottish independence.

It was a fairly dizzying rattle around different policy areas - a lot like this session as a whole, which has jumped relentlessly from topic to topic.

Image source, Scottish Parliament TV

Findlay says if Swinney won't cut benefits then he will have to raise taxes, joking that his question woke the first minister up and sparked a heated response.

He claims the government's "light touch" approach "traps" people on benefits. He insists that cheating the system is "rampant" in Scotland.

Swinney says he doesn't know the source of Findlay's comments towards the abuse of the benefits system but he recognises the importance of supporting social security.

He adds that the mainstays of the government's approach to eradicating child poverty are "stimulating economic opportunities and providing support for families".

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay is next.

He says savings should be made by cutting state benefits and asks whether Swinney will cut these or raise taxes.

Swinney says the Scottish government will set out its position on tax and benefits in the upcoming budget.

He says it is important to have a social security system that is based on "dignity, fairness and respect".

The first minister adds that pensions are "under attack from a Westminster Labour government" despite "promises" given to people in Scotland more than 10 years ago.

"Scotland needs to have independence," Swinney declares.

Greens still looking to claim budget winspublished at 14:33 BST 1 October

14:33 BST 1 October

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

In his response to Michael Marra, John Swinney nodded to the fact his government has done budget deals with the Scottish Greens in the past.

And up popped Ross Greer to bring up a policy at the heart of one of those policies - the £2 bus fare cap, which began with a pilot in the Highlands in 2024 following a budget deal.

The Green co-leader was pushing for the policy to be rolled out across the rest of Scotland as fast as possible, complaining that it could take five years for it to reach all areas.

John Swinney said it would happen ”as quickly as we possibly can do” - but declined to put a date on it.

His answer was chiefly about other policies, like free prescriptions, which are available in Scotland but not England - and Greer clearly felt this was a bit of a diversion from his question.

There may be more competition to do budget deals going forward, with Marra’s Labour seemingly more willing to engage, but the Greens are still keen to extract as many policy wins as they can from the government.

Image source, scottish parliament tv

Greer says he “appreciates the ambition” but notes the lack of a timescale.

He says the programme for government suggested it could take until 2031 and highlights there is already a cap in England - adding that the average commute between Glasgow and Dunfermline currently costs £64 a week.

Swinney says the government is “keen” to make as much progress as quickly as possible, adding England still has peak rail fares and bus travel isn't free for under-22s.

"We've got to take the decisions in an orderly fashion" he says.

The Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer is next. He asks about diesel prices, which have topped £2 a litre in many parts of Scotland.

“The cost-of-living crisis is crushing people across this country”, he says.

Greer says his party have helped implement a £2 bus fare cap in the west of Scotland to help people be able to afford to use public transport.

He asks the FM to roll this out across the country by the end of the year.

Swinney says he wants the whole country to be able to benefit as "quickly as we can do".

Swinney doubles down on UK pension proposalspublished at 14:27 BST 1 October

14:27 BST 1 October

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

Michael Marra attacked a tweet John Swinney posted this morning, which was critical of Andy Burnham’s plans for reform of pensions and social care.

The first minister posted that changes to the so-called “triple lock” on the state pension would “take up to £4bn from Scotland’s pensioners” by 2050, money that would be used to “pay for social care in England”.

The Scottish Labour leader pointed out that pensions would still go up regularly under Burnham’s proposals, and that any money spent at Westminster on social care would trigger Barnett consequential funding for Holyrood - which Scottish ministers could then spend on whatever they like, including pensioners.

All of this took place amid a broader debate on public service reform, with Marra pressing for details on the government’s proposals.

Swinney insisted that he wants to create “as much agreement as I possibly can do” - opening an invitation to Marra to engage - including on the budget process.

But ultimately he doubled down on his tweet about pensions, insisting that “pensioners in Scotland will lose out”.

Marra moves on to give a list of areas of public service Swinney wishes to reform, including schools, health boards and social care.

Marra wants to know how many jobs it will cost, how long it will take to negotiate and who people will pay council tax to.

"This is a gathering mess," Marra claims.

Swinney says he set out an aspiration in his programme for government and has created an open dialogue to discuss the process.

Marra says Swinney has misrepresented the position of the UK government on social care reform.

The Scottish Labour leader questions the first minister's plans - saying the deputy first minister said last week that no powers would be devolved from the SNP government to communities but yesterday she told Parliament that was not the case.

Swinney says he wants to establish the right balance of powers and the 32 local authorities are "too fragmented", with a smaller number needed.

He adds he wants more power and scope for communities to take control of their future.

"That is decentralisation in action," Swinney says.

Image source, Scottish Parliament TV

Next up is Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra, who asks about the SNP's national care service bill, following criticism from the British Medical Association (BMA) this morning.

He says Labour are willing to help reform public services to improve the country but he is concerned about the approach the Scottish government is taking.

Swinney says he has spoken to clinicians who disagree with the points made by the BMA.

He adds ministers are engaging with local authorities around governance issues and social care and welcomes Marra's participation in the discussion.

Offord back on the attack but Swinney defends drugs ministerpublished at 14:20 BST 1 October

14:20 BST 1 October

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

Drug deaths dominated last week’s FMQs, and Macolm Offord decided that it’s a big enough issue to come back to two weeks on the bounce.

He also lifted the curtain on the discussions of the parliamentary bureau, where party business managers meet to decide what will be debated in the Holyrood chamber - suggesting that Reform had tried, and failed, to replace a motion on Europe with one on drug deaths.

After last week’s session, Reform also tabled a motion of no confidence in Maree Todd, hoping to force a vote on the future of the minister in charge of drugs policy.

But no other parties signed up to it, meaning the motion did not have enough support to be put to the chamber.

That left Offord to put the question to the first minister today - with Swinney mounting a stout defence of his “totally committed and dedicated minister”.

Image source, scottish parliament tv

Offord says Swinney and the drugs minister Maree Todd were warned by Police Scotland about “drugs trending up again” and the risk of synthetic opioids in the summer.

He says “how many more deaths it will take for the minister to take responsibility” and asks why Todd is “allowed to keep her job”.

Swinney says he takes “all responsibility for issues handled by his government”.

He says Todd is "a totally committed and dedicated minister".

Offord says he requested that a debate scheduled for next week on Europe be replaced with a “more pressing debate” on Scotland’s drug emergency.

He says this would give the chamber a chance to discuss harm reduction methods and the right to recovery instead of what he calls the government's “flawed strategy” of consumption rooms.

He gives the example of The Thistle consumption room in Glasgow, which he says cost £7m.

Swinney says his government has increased access to rehabilitation so it “is factually incorrect” to suggest this is a new strategy.

Swinney says if it wasn’t for The Thistle, “more people would have died” and he will continue to explore steps to tackle the drug death problem in Scotland.

Image source, Scottish Parliament TV

Offord says there has been lots of “bad news” from the Scottish government in the last few weeks, such as poverty figures, Pisa scores on education and recprd drug deaths.

Offord asks why the government isn’t focussing on these “daily tragedies here in Scotland”.

“Is it any wonder why two million Scots didn’t vote in May,” he adds.

Swinney says the issues which debated in parliament are all important and the parliamentary programme is agreed by all parties.

Reform UK Scotland's Malcolm Offord is the first party leader to pose a question, and leads off by criticising the SNP government for concentrating on "meaningless debates" on independence rather than education and record drug deaths.

First Minister John Swinney is in his seat and ready for this week's FMQs.

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