Tackle real issues, Nicola

AS they return today from the long festive break, MSPs will be focused entirely on the Holyrood election in May. Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear she intends to convince a majority of Scots to back separation ‘over the next few years’ despite the decisive No vote in the 2014 referendum. This means that constitutional debates many had hoped were settled are set to dominate the months ahead, while the SNP is heading for another resounding victory at the polls. Yet during that four-month campaign, a host of vital issues affecting hundreds of thousands of ordinary Scots families are likely to remain unresolved because of SNP failures. Here are just a few of them:

SCHOOLS: A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development uncovered a growing crisis over classroom standards.

It found vital skills in reading and mathematics have slumped, with ‘particular challenges confronting secondary schools’.

The report highlighted the gulf between the best and worst schools and warned that ‘gaps widen between areas of high and low deprivation in both numeracy and literacy’.

Teachers are also set to launch industrial action over an increased workload linked to new exams.

Meanwhile the SNP’s manifesto pledge of class sizes of 18 or fewer in the first three years of primary school has been broken repeatedly.

NHS: Thousands of patients are being turned away from their local hospitals as crisishit staff fail to meet waiting times targets.

The equivalent of almost 30 people a day are being sent miles away as they cannot be seen within t he 12- week target by the NHS in their own area.

Meanwhile job vacancies for NHS nurses and consultants have soared across Scotland, with almost 2,300 full- time nursing and midwifery posts unfilled.

Last month it emerged an elderly patient had been starved of nutrition for eight days at Glasgow’s troubled £ 1billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

POLICE: A new chief constable, Phil Gormley, takes the helm of the deeply troubled single police force today. Police Scot- land is facing the unprecedented prospect of a double prosecution over call-handling blunders which left a woman dying at the side of the M9 for three days following a car crash – and the death of a father in custody amid claims of police brutality.

Meanwhile an inquiry by the Scottish parliament is probing the activities of a shadowy internal affairs unit, led by Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson, which broke strict rules by snooping on journalists’ sources.

Morale is in freefall. A survey found one in three officers wants to quit, while last month an Audit Scotland investigation into the Scottish Police Authority accounts uncovered a crippling £85million black hole.

UNIVERSITIES: The SNP has been accused of attempting to meddle in the way universities are run.

The planned legislation is aimed at creating greater openness in the way higher education is run and, if passed, would ensure staff, students and trade unions are all represented on university governing bodies.

But there are serious concerns about the impact of the changes on universities’ autonomy – and the consequences of increased ministerial powers.

Native Scots do not pay to study here, meaning Scottish principals focus on attracting high-paying overseas students to boost funds.

Meanwhile, official figures show fewer than half of schoolleavers starting at Scotland’s leading universities are now from Scotland.

COLLEGES: A 2013 report by the Audit Scotland watchdog showed student numbers, staffing levels, course choices and teaching hours had been slashed.

But Finance Secretary John Swinney f ail ed t o match George Osborne’s protection for education in last month’s Scottish Budget for 2016.

This means there will be no extra money for colleges, which have already suffered a £69mil- lion cut over the four years to 2015-16.

The public audit committee at Holyrood has been investigating details of the ‘golden goodbyes’ awarded to senior college staff, i ncluding a £304,000 pay deal for John Doyle, f ormer principal of Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire.

ENERGY: With the North Sea oil industry facing its biggest crisis in a generation, there are warnings that Scotland could be f orced to i mport more energy to keep the lights on.

New figures recently revealed the country’s last coal-fired power station still generates a fifth of our electricity.

But Longannet power station in Fife, which provides energy for two million homes, is on course to shut its doors by the end of March.

Government figures show that it produced 21 per cent of Scotland’s electricity in 2014, while the country’s two ageing nuclear plants were responsible for 33 per cent.

Yet families are paying more than £1.4million a day to subsidise green energy schemes in Scotland as a result of the SNP’s relentless promotion of wind energy – despite its unreliability as a consistent energy source.

NAMED PERSONS: The SNP is forging ahead with plans to appoint so-called ‘named pers ons’ f or every child in Scotland.

Headteachers and health visitors are among those assigned to children even before they are born.

The Mail revealed last month that taxi drivers have been ordered to spy on child passengers and report conversations to their ‘state guardians’ – branded a ‘Stasi-like’ interference into family life.

Named persons will also be able to obtain sensitive data, such as medical information from the NHS, and pass it on to another agency if they believe there is a ‘legal basis’ to do so.

FORTH ROAD BRIDGE: Commuters and businesses faced chaos last month after vital repair work shut the bridge for nearly three weeks.

The crossing remains closed to Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) – costing hauliers up to £40million. MSPs are set to investigate the fiasco, including massive funding cuts by the Scottish Government.

It emerged last month that Miss Sturgeon recently snubbed an offer of help from Prime Minister David Cameron to fix the bridge.

While the new Forth crossing is due to open later this year, concerns remain over the resilience of the current bridge when it opens again to HGVs next month.

ROADS: Deaths on Scottish roads have soared by more than 16 per cent in the past year, raising questions over the effectiveness of the speed camera blitz.

But the figures also come amid mounting concern over the poor quality of our road surfaces.

Work is on-going to dual the deadly A9 but the number of fatal crashes has soared by a third on the road since the introduction of average speed cameras.

Scotland has a higher rate of road deaths than England and Wales, which saw an increase of just over 2 per cent in the past year.

The number of youngsters seriously injured on this country’s roads jumped from 143 to 171 between 2013 and 2014, according to Transport Scotland.

Meanwhile, about 4,500 Scottish motorists made claims against local councils in 2014 over pothole damage.

FLOODS: The Scottish Government gives £42million to local authorities for flood prevention each year, but this has not increased since 2008.

Its ‘natural assets and flooding’ budget has risen steadily to £ 9.1million – but t his remained static in Mr Swinney’s recent Budget.

Environment Minister Aileen McLeod was criticised last week for maintaining a low profile as Scots battled to save homes and businesses from flood water.

Having sparked f ury l ast month by telling residents of the Borders to take responsibility and prepare for floods, she initially stayed in her South of Scotland constituency as parliament was in recess.

That was in sharp contrast to her UK equivalent, Liz Truss, who was in Tadcaster, Yorkshire, where a bridge had collapsed.