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 1614 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
National Care Service
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Jackie Dunbar
The Tory motion is, quite frankly, a disservice to the social care sector here in Scotland. The establishment of a national care service will be the most ambitious reform of public services since the creation of the national health service. The aim is to ensure consistent, fair and high-quality care for everyone in Scotland, thereby reducing the current variations that many folk have raised over recent years.
The Tory motion is simply wrong. A national care service is not about nationalisation of services. The bill—maybe Tory members should actually read it—sets out that, at national level, the functions will be focused on consistency through national oversight. Services will continue to be designed and delivered locally. That is right in order to support delivery with and for our communities and the people whom those services serve.
Meeting of the Parliament
National Care Service
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Jackie Dunbar
I am sorry. I normally take interventions, but today I have only four minutes.
National oversight will allow for better sharing of good practice and innovation, which we know takes place right across our country. For example, for years Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council have pooled resources to get best value, when possible. It can be done. The proposed changes will bring forward new power-sharing arrangements at national and local levels. They will deliver a mix of the clarity that people want on ultimate accountability and, crucially, they will deliver the flexibility to meet local needs, including the needs of our island and rural communities.
The Tory motion questions the Scottish Government’s financial estimates for the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, as well as the rationale for it, but the bill follows the independent review of adult social care, which showed the need for change and recommended reform and strengthening of national accountability for social care. The review found that the current way of working has not fully delivered the improvements that it was intended would be achieved by integration of health and social care. It showed that the current approach to social care is simply not working, because the current system focuses on profit over people, and it said that that must change.[Interruption.]
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Jackie Dunbar
You probably asked half of the question that I was going to ask, convener.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Jackie Dunbar
Absolutely. Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Jackie Dunbar
Grand. Finally, I will give you a chance to say whether there is anything else that the committee should be thinking about in relation to the inquiry and how the Scottish Government can best support a modern and sustainable network of ferry services. If you had a magic wand, what would you like us to consider?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Jackie Dunbar
When the committee put out its call for views on the ferry services, some folk raised concerns about the crewing arrangements of the private sector operators. Do you employ folk locally? I think that I know the answer to that from what was said earlier—Helen Inkster said that that is desirable—but I am giving you a chance to put your position on the record. Do you employ folk locally? Are your working conditions as good, if not better, than those in other companies? Do you pay the living wage? Do you believe that the concerns that have been raised are misplaced?
Meeting of the Parliament
Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry Chair
Meeting date: 27 October 2022
Jackie Dunbar
With the listening project still scheduled to go ahead later this year, does the Deputy First Minister feel confident that the inquiry team has the capacity to conduct that activity properly, unimpacted by recent staff changes?
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 27 October 2022
Jackie Dunbar
I am aware of the difference that the Scottish Government’s investment is making in my constituency, with Aberdeen benefiting from exciting new hydrogen vehicles.
The Scottish National Party has the huge ambition to decarbonise buses as one of our commitments on our net zero journey, while the UK Government seems, through its actions and rhetoric, to be committed to a war on nature and a race to the bottom on environmental standards. How does the Scottish Government’s approach differ from what is happening elsewhere in the UK?
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackie Dunbar
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support women being released from custody to reintegrate back into their communities. (S6O-01452)
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackie Dunbar
It is important that we acknowledge that recidivism is a risk among those who have offended and spent time in custody. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that women who are released from custody do not end up back in custody again?
