BBC News Scotland

The Scottish government has already committed £300m of "new money" to local authorities to help tackle the coronavirus crisis, Mr Swinney says.

He says he is "perfectly happy" to look at the need for additional resources. "I will carefully look at all of the proposals that come forward from local government but I haven't seen them yet," he says.

Mr Swinney is asked about the amount of time he expects children to eventually spend in schools. The education secretary says trying to get to 50% of time spent in class "should be our objective". He says the suggestion by Edinburgh city council that pupils may only return for one day a week "is not strong enough".

We have to use schools but also leisure facilities, public halls, church halls, town halls and vacant accommodation that is safe to maximise the opportunities.

Social-distancing among young people is going to be a challenge, Mr Swinney agrees. But he says it is a requirement that "people just have to get used to".

"Classes will have to involve a smaller number of pupils and there will have to be fewer people in schools at given times to make sure that we are reducing the possibility of further spread of the virus."

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John Swinney is asked about concerns that coronavirus is spreading in school hubs.

There is no evidence of that, that I'm aware of, and obviously we see in general in Scotland a reducing prevalence of coronavirus which is happening while the hubs are operating. That's happening because of the measures that we have in place and the requirements we are putting on people.

Mr Swinney says teachers and adults are as big a part of the school community as young people and their health also needs to be prioritised.

"I know there is great debate about the spread of coronavirus and its prevalence among young people," he says.

"But they aren't the only people who are in schools. There are plenty of adults in schools and surrounding schools in the transit of getting pupils there."

Reuters