Next week Nicola Sturgeon will face questions from MSPs for the first time in the new session of the Scottish Parliament. It will be more than four weeks since voters went to the polls and handed her a personal mandate as First Minister.
The length of time it is taking for Holyrood to get back into full swing is troubling. Insiders say the delay is in part due to behind-the-scenes wrangling over the make-up of committees and, given the abject failure of some of these groups in the last term to hold the executive to account, attention in this area is welcome.
But nevertheless, the Welsh Assembly was able to hold its session of FMQs this week, despite a full-blown crisis that saw the election of its First Minister delayed after a tied vote. By the time the Scottish Parliament creaks back into action, there will be only a few weeks before MSPs depart on a lengthy nine-week summer recess.
Ms Sturgeon's statement of priorities yesterday will have done little to break the inertia. For the most part, the SNP leader simply read out a list of commitments outlined in her manifesto that – like that document – lacked vital detail.
Warm words on education and tackling the scandal of Scotland's attainment gap are welcome, but the First Minister has been speaking regularly for well over a year about this.
She repeated a non-controversial and long-standing commitment to increase free childcare in early years and the eye-catching - though much derided – policy of gifting baby boxes to new mothers. But other than some new funding and a commitment to standardised testing, it remains unclear what will change in classrooms to achieve the promised and necessary revolution in the life chances of the most economically disadvantaged.
There are vague promises over establishing school clusters empowering headteachers, but crucially, it remains to be seen what role the SNP sees for local authorities in a reformed education sector.
Details did emerge about a new council of education advisors and a major summit on reform, but after nine years in power and a focus on school reform stretching back months, could these not have been in place by now? It seems we will have to wait for a "draft" plan from John Swinney, promised "before the summer holidays" for any further hint of what is in store. Ms Sturgeon said she wanted to "be bold and move forward with purpose and pace". It would be a welcome shift.
Once again, there were signals the First Minister intends to look left rather than right for support. She made a point of naming Labour, Green and LibDem policies she would adopt, while omitting any mention of the Tories, glossing over the fact that on the defining issue of tax she is far closer to Ruth Davidson than any of the other party leaders.
She promised to implement changes called for by poverty advisor Naomi Eisenstadt in full, but even the most sycophantic Sturgeonite would struggle to argue one key recommendation – to be bold on local tax reform – has been met if proposals to merely tinker with bands proceed as planned.
There will come a time for rhetoric to be backed up by radical action and for vested interests to be confronted head on. We hope it will be sooner rather than later.
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