Analysis: As Holyrood�s version of a Queen�s Speech, it lacks much pomp. But the circumstances are entirely new, with a minority administration meaning government is about the art of the possible.

As Holyrood's version of a Queen's Speech, it lacks much pomp. But the circumstances are entirely new, with a minority administration meaning government is about the art of the possible.

Alex Salmond's "Programme for Scotland" yesterday outlined his plans for the next year, bringing forward 11 bills and steering shy of controversy.

Politically, it built on his first 100 days, with a strategy that continues to show him firmly in command of Holyrood's agenda, any doubts about his longevity in office put aside, and his opponents still struggling to find a convincing or even coherent response. Wendy Alexander's one question was easily batted away, and her predecessor, Jack McConnell, sat on the most distant of back benches, looking glum.

Of the bills, only three are about delivering on the manifesto and all are likely to find enough opposition support to get through: direct elections to health boards, abolishing tolls on the Tay and Forth bridges, and ending the graduate endowment scheme.

Two bills will enact the recommendations of the august and non-partisan Scots Law Commission - on rape and a technical one on debt - while five others tidy up and modernise existing laws or continue on non-controversial areas where the previous executive parties left off.

The statement laid the groundwork for two major pieces of legislation starting in autumn next year; on climate change and on NHS patients' rights. It also opened the door for opposition back benchers to secure government support in passing legislation they initiate, starting with the regulation of sunbed parlours and the creation of a tartans register.

The First Minister argued yesterday this programme marks out a shift of emphasis. Instead of legislating to justify its existence, law-making is only one part of what government does.

Its other major tasks include spending, which will be wrapped up in the Budget Bill. That won't be published until late November, once Finance Secretary John Swinney is clear about his grant from the UK Treasury. Government can push for secondary legislation, on tobacco and alcohol sales for instance.

Mr Salmond claimed he had given MSPs a workload that is not only meaty, but "ambitious, substantial, deliverable". It is clearly the latter, as it skirts controversy. Much of its substance is in areas where progress was being made anyway. And because of the limitations of minority government, it scores low on ambition.

This, after all, is a Scottish Government seeking first to establish its competence. The bigger ambitions, from local income tax to independence, have to wait for another day.