The schools have been back for a while, but the Scottish Parliament is still officially in recess. Finally, next week, we return to business.
The Scottish Government will set out its stall with a new Programme for Government, and already, plenty of things are stacking up in Nicola Sturgeon’s in-tray.
Top of the list is the state of our education system. Last week the First Minister gave a major speech on education where she asked to be judged on her government’s track record.
Good. Life chances are improved by first-class schools, colleges and universities and high standards should be any administration’s benchmark. If Nicola Sturgeon has decided to make this her top priority, then I welcome her commitment.
But we need more than good intentions. Only this week, a new survey showed that under this SNP administration public levels of satisfaction with the quality of education has fallen. That comes after another survey showed earlier this year that literacy rates have fallen across the board, at P4, P7 and S2 levels.
To this, add in the fall in youngsters sitting science Highers, the complaints over the new Maths exam, the slashing of college places and a real terms decline in school spending. The list goes on and on.
Nicola Sturgeon has travelled to London and New York to see examples of state school education which has turned around children’s lives.
Again, I welcome her commitment. I only hope she will now have the courage to follow through with genuine action.
On our part, the Scottish Conservatives will continue to bang the drum for school reform and make the case that Scottish education could do with some fresh thinking.
For years, we have been calling for the re-introduction of standardised testing not to put pupils under pressure, but so that we can understand how schools are performing and so that problems can be addressed at the earliest opportunity.
I am pleased the First Minister has reversed the Scottish Government’s position and has given the green light to primary tests.
But the sad fact is that in recent years those resistant to change have shouted down reforming voices. This has got to stop. Scotland needs a full and frank debate about what we do well and what can be improved; anything else, I’m afraid, just won’t cut it.
Next in the in-tray is the NHS. Its success has always depended on the goodwill of doctors and nurses. But with demands on the NHS getting ever higher, we now know they are facing greater pressure than ever.
At the same time, the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies has found that NHS spending in Scotland has fallen by 1% since 2009 under the SNP while rising by 5% in England.
What we need is a decently funded NHS and reforms too. We believe 1,000 extra nurses should be recruited.
To help pay for it, we think those who can afford it should once again pay a contribution towards their prescription. And to help patient care, we also need to listen to nurses and doctors who are telling us that politically-driven targets are making it harder for them to do their job.
And then there’s the police. I’m glad that Chief Constable Sir Stephen House announced his resignation yesterday. But let us not forget that the buck stops with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Police Authority on Police Scotland’s failings.
The fledgling force needs effective oversight at the very top if it is going to recover its reputation and regain the public’s trust.
I hope the SNP has the political commitment to focus on these vital tasks. My worry is that it will be distracted.
The drum-beats within the SNP suggest the party wants to take us back to another independence referendum. Only weeks ago, my fellow Courier columnist Alex Salmond declared that a re-run of last year’s vote was “inevitable”.
That’s the last thing we need.
Instead of focusing on the things that matter better schools, a health system that works, fixing a Frankenstein’s monster of a single police force entirely of their own making we face the prospect of an SNP administration parking Scotland in constitutional gridlock.
We can’t afford another few years of hanging around, looking over at Nicola Sturgeon every day to see whether she’s made up her mind about when she wants another referendum. Not while we’re failing to tackle the underlying problems in our society.
So here’s my message to the SNP ahead of the new term it’s time to focus on the day job.