NICOLA Sturgeon's poverty advisor has said that she remains confident that many of her recommendations will be adopted, despite the First Minister breaking a pledge to formally respond to her report.
Naomi Eisenstadt said that she believed the Scottish Government had simply "ran out of time" to publish its formal response ahead of a self-imposed deadline of the end of March and did not believe that it had been missed deliberately.
The advisor said that she remained convinced that the Scottish Government was serious about tackling poverty and that the situation north of the border looked like "paradise" compared to England, with the Tories perusing an entirely different agenda.
Ms Sturgeon, speaking after Ms Eisenstadt's report was unveiled in January, said: "We will respond formally to the report before the end of March and set out how we intend to take forward its recommendations."
Despite the promised response failing to appear, an omission that was blasted as "shameful" by Scottish Labour, Ms Eisenstadt said she was not overly concerned.
She said: "I'm not that bothered about it, I wouldn't have accepted the job if I didn't think the Scottish Government was serious. If you live in England right now, Scotland looks like paradise. I'm pretty confident that some of my recommendations will be taken up seriously, but I'm an advisor and the Scottish Government are elected, not me."
She said she would be keen to continue her role, which has now officially ended following the publication of her report, under the next Scottish Government administration whichever party is elected.
Ms Eisenstadt added: "I'm hoping to come back. It was a role created by Nicola Sturgeon so it would be for her would to decide whether she wants to continue the role or not. But I really enjoyed the work.
"It's been a fantastic experience, but I would never expect any government to say 'thank you, we'll be doing everything you said."
The SNP has claimed that Scottish Government has already taken forward many of the recommendations proposed by Ms Eisenstadt, but has not explained why the response to her report was not published.
The poverty advisor said it was "not for her to say" whether Ms Sturgeon's proposal to tweak the council tax had met her recommendation to be "bold" on local tax reform, but added: "There's a wider issue that if you want good public services they have to be paid for."
Other recommendations put forward by Ms Eisenstadt include reviving anti-poverty legislation, which would force ministers to test all policies against their impact in reducing inequality. The requirement was scrapped by the Tories shortly after David Cameron won power although the Scottish Government is yet to commit to using new powers to implement the duty.
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