Government is often criticised for spending too much time strategising and not enough time delivering. And there is much truth in that. It’s easier to put words on paper than to actually do things that make a difference.

But a well-thought-out strategy, setting a clear direction that everyone can buy into, is a prerequisite to good delivery. Otherwise, there is a real risk of lapsing into a series of unconnected reflex actions in response to events without understanding where we’re trying to get to, how we’re going to get there or how to deal with the inevitable challenges that arise along the way.

Too often however the strategy is left to gather dust on a shelf and isn’t actually used to drive day-to-day activity.

Two years ago today, the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) was launched at an event in the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc in Dundee. A commitment in the 2021 election manifesto, NSET was presented as a well-thought-out plan with the admirable ambition of transforming Scotland’s economy over the next 10 years.

I know how much work went into putting NSET together. Like all good strategy, it is evidence based – the analytics paper that supports it runs to 130 pages of tightly packed data covering all aspects of Scotland’s economy.

It recognises that the challenges Scotland faced – around skills, productivity, business start-ups and investment – are interlinked and that a series of connected actions were required to tackle this puzzle. It also understood that there was much to build on – not least Scotland’s prime position in many of the industries of the future.

It stressed the importance of clear regional economic development plans, playing to local strengths but aligned to the National Strategy, and the critical need to align to existing sectoral strategies developed by industry.

NSET might not be the answer to everything but it gives a pretty good list of the things that need to be done to get Scotland’s economy into a better place. Joining up actions in a coherent way across the piece, it gave government, and the rest of the economic development landscape, an effective to-do list. Execute on the NSET actions and we wouldn’t go far wrong.

It also, very importantly, recognised where previous strategies have failed. Government, not to put too fine a point on it, can be rubbish at delivery. Writing ‘policy’ is much more fun, and much harder to be held to account for, than the messy business of doing things that actually make a difference. So to counter that, NSET was explicit about what good delivery should look like. The first months after launch were spent putting together a series of connected delivery plans to monitor and keep track of progress.

So I was interested to see Audit Scotland’s recent report on NSET. Not pretty reading.

It cites a gap in collective political leadership and lack of clarity on funding priorities.

The change of cabinet secretary with responsibility for delivery, after just 10 months in the job, hasn’t helped.

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It also notes that the government is still working on its evaluation framework for the strategy.

Remember this is us now two years into a 10-year strategy. Time is ticking , and the economic climate Scotland operates in is getting more, not less challenging.

There is now talk of an NSET ‘refresh’: taking the whole strategy back onto the drawing board for months more of review. Kind of misses the point. The problem isn’t that the strategy isn’t fit for purpose, the problem is the same one that was identified when it was first written, the government machine isn’t geared up for the boring business of delivery. And while steps have been taken to try and address this – including bringing in some key business figures to support the work – it’s clearly not been enough to impress Audit Scotland.

At one level the spinners can count it as a success. A manifesto commitment to write a strategy duly delivered and launched to great fanfare at an event in front of Scotland’s media. Positive headlines secured. Lots of boxes ticked. The strategy then sidelined while the circus moves onto the next headline-grabbing launch event – New Deal for Business anyone?

None of this of course helps to fix the problems that beset Scotland’s economy. And this gets to the nub of the matter. Good headlines are bread and butter to political operators. Without that it’s hard to get re-elected. But if that’s all there is, and there isn’t the robust follow-up to actually deliver things, then it hurts where it really counts, in the missed opportunities across Scotland’s economy.

Ivan McKee is a former Scottish Government business minister