‘THINGS move fast in politics sometimes and I was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist’s when I received a call offering me the position of Minister for Youth and Women’s Employment.

It really is an absolute honour to be asked to serve my country in this way and I am extremely proud to be part of a Government which is so committed to equality.

The Scottish Cabinet is one of only three in the industrialised world to have a 50:50 gender balance - a move hailed by the UN as an example for others to emulate.

Across the wider public sector, however, the picture is not so rosy. Only 36% of board members and 19% of board chairs are women. So there is much more still to do.

And we have, also, now seen the publication of the Report from the Smith Commission, set up in the wake of the Referendum campaign during which it was quite clear that the people of Scotland want the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament to have much wider powers to tackle the problems that our country faces.

Regrettably, the Westminster parties were not prepared to deliver the powerhouse Parliament the people of Scotland were promised - under these proposals, less than 30 per cent of our taxes will be set in Scotland and less than 20 per cent of welfare spending will be devolved to Scotland. That isn’t Home Rule - it’s continued Westminster rule.

You might expect me to say that. But it is a view being echoed by many voices in civic Scotland. From the Director of the ESRC Centre on Constitutional Change, Professor Michael Keating, who said that “the outcome is the minimum the unionist parties could do to retain credibility” to the General Secretary of the STUC, Grahame Smith, who said he was “underwhelmed” and that the package as a whole “does not meet our aspirations”.

A wide range of ther organisations including One Parent Families Scotland, Engender Scotland, SCVO, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) the Equality Network, Inclusion Scotland, the Campaign for Scottish Home Rule and Third Force News also expressed their disappointment – with many pointing out the proposals did not go far enough on tackling poverty.

I do welcome the new powers proposed - as I support all progress for Scotland - but the proposals clearly do not reflect the full wishes of the people of Scotland, and also fall far short of the rhetoric from the No campaign during the referendum. Then, Gordon Brown promised ‘nothing less than a modern form of Scottish Home Rule’ and ‘as close to a federal state’ as the UK can be. That was the context for the “extensive new powers” promised in the Vow and it has not been met’.