Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
Searching by different views
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
- Report: this is the whole Official Report for a particular meeting of a committee or Parliament
- Item of business: this is each individual agenda item in an Official Report. For example, Portfolio Questions would be the item of business in a Meeting of the Parliament report
- Contribution: this is each time someone has made a spoken contribution to a meeting.
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
Search by MSP
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
Searching by keyword
There are two types of keyword search:
- A keyword search without quotation marks will look for every instance of each word used and rank the results by frequency and proximity. It will also include variants of the keywords using “porter stemming”. This is when the search looks for the “stem” of a word regardless of its ending. So, for example, a search for [salmon farm] will return each instance of “salmon” and each instance of “farm” as well as potentially including results for “farms”, “farmed” and “farming”.
- A keyword search with quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase used. So, for example, a search for “salmon farm” in quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase.
Combining search filters
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
More complex keyword searches
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
- a search for “salmon farm” AND “Loch Lomond” will return only results which include both exact phrases
- a search for “salmon farm” NOT “Loch Lomond” will return results for “salmon farm” but exclude results which also include “Loch Lomond”
- a search for “salmon farm” OR “Loch Lomond” will return all results for “salmon farm” and all results for “Loch Lomond” regardless of whether they appear together
Searching by date
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
- Current session (all Official Reports since the current sessions started)
- Last 6 months
- Last 12 months
- each of the previous sessions of Parliament. (Selecting the information icon above the “Select a time period” menu will give you the exact dates for each session.)
- All sessions
- You can also choose to select a custom date range, although adding a Start or End date will mean the search automatically defaults to this option.
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Displaying 1481 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
It is not in this area. I am sorry—there was a miscommunication.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
Yes, please. I am sorry that I did not communicate that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
I had not thought of that point, so thank you for sharing it with us.
Randolph, do you want to add anything?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
I am sure that I have mentioned that I am a former councillor, which is why I am aware of consultation fatigue.
I will move on to the three other panellists. Will you tell us a bit more about your involvement with local authorities and other public agencies? What have been the barriers to delivering renewables projects? You have all mentioned planning and a lack of planners, but will you delve into the issue a bit more? The lack of planners has been well documented in the evidence that we have been given, but I am interested to find out about other barriers. What have been the positives? What have you got out of such involvement? If the witnesses do not mind, I will start with Morag Watson and move along the row.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
Thank you very much. I have no further questions.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
I will follow on from what David Rodger and David Hammond said about the consultation process. On the positive side, recent evidence suggests that communities are more motivated than ever to make changes to their lifestyle as we move towards net zero, but I am also conscious that communities have a bit of consultation process fatigue, if you do not mind me saying so. They are consulted on many things, but they rarely see the outcomes.
How can local authorities ensure that they take local communities with them, rather than getting the reaction, “Not another consultation!”? Perhaps David Hammond could answer first, then David Rodger.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
Would David Rodger like to add anything? Your remit is slightly different from David Hammond’s, but I am interested in your take on things.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Health and Social Care
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
I am pleased to be able to participate in today’s debate and add my support for the Scottish Government’s motion.
I would like to add my own personal thanks to Scotland’s NHS and care staff after the incredibly difficult period that we have all gone through. We really have to appreciate their efforts on the front line of the pandemic. It was one of the most challenging periods for our NHS, and that must be recognised.
Our NHS and social care staff played an immensely important role on the front line of the pandemic, providing healthcare and/or social care for those who required it, and we should never forget the selfless work that they put in throughout the pandemic. We must make clear our thanks at every single opportunity.
As we look to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, we must use this opportunity to learn from the past two years and to build back better, investing in our healthcare system after the pressure that it has been under and using the lessons learned to build a more resilient healthcare system that is fit for the needs of the population and for the future.
It is key that we invest in our NHS and social care staff, who have given so much during the pandemic, and ensure that they feel valued and are able to react to the changing needs of our healthcare system.
I am well aware of the public sector’s commitment—-my sister-in-law is a nurse in the intensive care unit at Raigmore hospital and was there at the very heart of the pandemic. It was not just her who was affected; it was also her family. I remember FaceTiming my nephew, who was barely 12 years old at the time. He said to me, “Auntie Jake, I am so proud of my mam—I worry about her every day going to work, but I know that she is doing her best to try and help as many people as possible.”
The pandemic has seen our NHS come under immense levels of pressure, and the recovery will not be easy, with waiting times for non-urgent procedures much higher than we all would like. However, our Scottish Government has my full confidence to get us through this, with a record £18 billion committed in the Scottish budget to help both healthcare and social care deal with the challenges around moving out of the pandemic and into the post-pandemic era.
Within that spend, £1.6 billion has been committed for social care integration, which will lay the groundwork for our new national care service. Although Opposition members may like to view that as centralisation, I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring that services are designed at a local level while engaging with folk who have lived experience to achieve a person-centred approach, with strong local accountability.
People need to be at the heart of the decision making around all this to ensure that we get it absolutely right—not just for patients, but for our health and social care staff. That is why I am pleased that the Scottish Government is investing in the wellbeing of our health and social care staff as well as in the mental health of patients. I am sure that everyone agrees that such jobs are incredibly difficult mentally and physically. It is crucial for our staff to be able to seek assistance when it is required, which allows them to perform at their best.
We will continue to have a healthcare system that works for patients only if we continue to invest and innovate. The investment that the Scottish Government has committed is absolutely key to the future of our healthcare system. Investment is also needed in our staff to ensure that we have facilities that are fit for the needs of the population and for the future.
We need staff who are paid well and who can cope with the mental and physical pressures that their jobs may create. In its amendment, Labour says that it would like the workers’ pay to rise to £15. Across the chamber, most of us would love to do that, if it was possible, but I understand that we get no consequentials for pay rises, so we must absorb pay rises into the budget. We have not seen a budget alternative from Opposition parties.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Health and Social Care
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
Will the member take an intervention?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Jackie Dunbar
ScotRail’s temporary revised timetable is one facet of industrial action that is taking place throughout the United Kingdom. However, although the Scottish Government wants all parties to get round the table and negotiate a fair and affordable pay deal, the Tories seek to use the dispute to illegalise industrial action. Therefore, what discussions has the transport minister had with Grant Shapps on his proposal to make industrial action illegal unless a minimum number of rail employees are working?
