Douglas Fraser's verdict on FMQs

First Minister Alex Salmond defended himself today over a fresh attack on the Scottish Government over funding for vulnerable children.

Wendy Alexander argued at First Minister's Questions that giving councils more money to spend as they see fit could create a "post-code lottery" by jeopardising £100m of funding that had previously been earmarked for spending on children, she said.

"Why are you content to protect the funding for some causes - but when it comes to vulnerable children you are willing to leave it to a postcode lottery?" she demanded.

Mr Salmond rejected the charge and said her argument was a slur on councillors, many of them Labour, who welcomed the greater spending freedom given them by his administration.

Referring to previous exchanges in Parliament, he told MSPs: "In her four previous examples of her attempting to scaremonger vulnerable groups across Scotland, she has failed to make any progress whatsoever."

Today's exchanges began with Ms Alexander noting the government had announced a telephone helpline for those concerned about children at risk from drug-abusing parents.

"I welcome this initiative but a phone line is no substitute for a national strategy to protect vulnerable children," she said.

And she urged Mr Salmond to "live up to his responsibility" and commit to Labour's pledge of a nursery place for every vulnerable two-year-old.

Mr Salmond told her: "Our plans for nursery education are to increase provision by 50% across the course of this Parliament - something that was never even attempted by the previous administration in eight years."