Nicola Sturgeon has failed to reply to an anti-poverty report written by her own adviser after promising to do so.

The report ‘Shifting the curve - a report for the First Minister’ was published on January 20, 2016. It was the work of the Scottish Government’s independent adviser on poverty and inequality Naomi Eisenstadt.

On the day of the report’s publication Nicola Sturgeon said: “I thank Naomi for the work she has carried out and welcome the report that she has published today. We now need to study it and look at what we’re doing well and should continue to do, and where we can improve. We will respond formally to the report before the end of March and set out how we intend to take forward its recommendations.”

The Scottish Government has not responded formally to the report as promised by the First Minister before the end of March. Scottish Labour has called the failure “shameful”.

A Labour spokesman said: "Nicola Sturgeon personally promised to set out her response to this important report by the end of March, but she hasn't bothered to do so. That is shameful. But it is not the first time. This follows the SNP delaying the SIMD study of poverty in Scotland, which was due in 2015, until after the election. Perhaps the SNP hope people will forget the fact that they are using the Scottish Parliament as a conveyor belt for hundreds of millions of pounds in Tory cuts to schools and vital public services.

"Labour's anti-poverty strategy is clear - we will use the powers of the Parliament to stop the cuts to the services so many people in poverty rely on."

The report called on the Scottish Government to “be bold on local tax reform” however the SNP have since decided not to scrap the council tax but instead only alter the multiplier of the top two property bands. The party also does not support a revaluation of Scottish properties despite the council tax bands being based on property values as they were on April 1, 1991.

As it is now the official election period the Scottish Government will not be able to respond until after the election on May 5.

A spokesperson for the SNP said:"Alex Neil set out to Parliament our approach to social security, which builds on the recommendations of the Poverty Commissioner to ensure dignity and respect are brought back to the heart of the social security system and the First Minister announced plans earlier this week for a Jobs Grant, providing additional support for young people returning to work.

"We have also announced £1 million in funding to trial different methods of early learning and childcare delivery, taking steps to further support the extension of the living wage, announcing an end to the council tax freeze, providing further support through council tax benefit for low income families with children and developing the Maternity and Early Years grant.

"All of these actions build on the welcome recommendations of the Poverty Adviser, and will continue our efforts to tackle poverty and inequality across Scotland."

Eisenstadt was appointed by the Scottish Government on June 23, 2015.