15:18

Nicola Sturgeon also faced tough questioning on Scotland’s health service at first minister’s questions today, with three out of four opposition leaders demanding answers in the light of some shocking personal stories of poor performance by the ambulance and A&E services.

Sturgeon was explicit about the difficulties facing the service, with flu cases doubling over the past week alone, but insisted that the service was “coping admirably” and repeatedly describing it as “the best performing NHS in the UK”.

Meanwhile, analysis by BBC Scotland finds that Scottish A&E units performed better than those in England in December, with figures just released by the NHS in England showing that 77.3% of attendances at major “type 1” A&E units were dealt with inside the four-hour target last month, while a calculation of weekly Scottish figures gives a figure of 82.3%.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson was especially critical of cuts to acute care beds, which Sturgeon insisted should be seen in the context of a shift in the balance of care to increased intermediate and social care. Sturgeon pointed out that Davidson’s Westminster colleague and health secretary Jeremy Hunt had only this week been given the social care portfolio to add to his health brief, an integration which has been ongoing in Scotland since 2016.