The UK Government plans to close 42 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices, putting 1,100 jobs on the line.
The closures will see some offices merged and 12,000 DWP staff moved to alternative sites, a move the PCS union has warned will risk thousands more jobs when the changes come into full effect.
Raising an urgent question about the closures, SNP work and employment spokesman Chris Stephens asked: "Can the minister confirm that the announcement could mean 3,000 jobs at risk of redundancy in the Department of Work and Pensions? And what measures is he going to ensure that this does not happen?"
He also claimed the DWP was "looking to close offices in high economic deprivation areas" which was "counter-intuitive to the so-called levelling-up agenda".