Minimum income for students to be considered by MSPs
Labour presses Scottish Government to move ahead with recommendations in 2017 report.
The Scottish Government has been accused of dragging its feet over proposals to give students a minimum income.
The proposals were initially outlined in an independent report published in 2017 which set out a number of recommendations on how financial support for students could be improved.
One recommendation was the introduction of a minimum income of at least £8100 for all students, to be delivered through a mix of bursaries and student loans.
Labour is now claiming the Scottish Government has overlooked the report and accused it of "watering down" the recommendations.
The party said it will move to force a vote in the Scottish Parliament this week on the implementation of a minimum income.
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: "Financial support for students at university and college has been overlooked for too long in the political debate - it is time for that to change.
"Labour supports free tuition but students need to be able to access decent financial support when they actually get to college and university.
"That's why Labour would implement the New Social Contract, which provides a minimum student income.
"It's now down to other parties to either back our plans or explain to Scotland's students why not."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We support the ambition outlined in the Student Support Review to achieve a minimum income for our students.
"We have begun to implement this by increasing the care-experienced bursary to £8100 per year.
"From 2019/20, we are increasing bursary support for students in both further and higher education and increasing the higher education bursary threshold from £19,000 to £21,000, ensuring that more students will be able to access the maximum bursary.
"Overall, we continue to invest record amounts in student support with over 120,000 undergraduates each year studying in Scotland benefiting from free tuition.
"And we continue to keep university free from tuition fees, ensuring access to higher education is based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay."