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 2078 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 25 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
On a matter that is very dear to my heart, how will the recently announced national centre for music engage with education practitioners to support and inspire young people into music careers?
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 24 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority regarding plans to incorporate any precedent set by the Miller v College of Policing case into the recording of non-crime hate incidents. (S6O-03335)
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 24 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
The cabinet secretary is correct in saying that my concern relates to Police Scotland and the fact that, at the moment, we appear to have an unclear process—at least in the eyes of the public—as to what is termed a non-crime hate incident. My concern is that a number of people may have sought a subject access request notice and found themselves egregiously believing that their name has been recorded. Has the cabinet secretary explored that possibility with Police Scotland as part of her deliberations, or does she intend to do so?
Meeting of the Parliament
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
Meeting date: 24 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
I make clear that my understanding—I have read quite extensively about the issue—is that the amendment is about providing the opportunity to make a personal statement; it is not about making it an obligation to do so. Mr Rennie makes an absolutely fair point about the retraumatisation of retelling a story, but if that is what a victim wishes to do and feels very strongly about doing, the amendment would provide the opportunity, not the obligation, to do it.
Meeting of the Parliament
Gender-identity Healthcare for Young People
Meeting date: 23 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
The Tavistock clinic, which is based in London, is facing mass legal action claims because some young people feel that they were rushed into a medical pathway. Given that the Sandyford clinic in Scotland uses the same guidelines, what assessment has the Scottish Government made of, and what discussions has it had with NHS bodies about, the possibility of similar legal action occurring in Scotland?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (Strategic Plan 2024-28)
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
There is a consideration of safe access to healthcare. Article 33 of the UNCRC notes that children and young people have a right to be protected from harmful drugs. One of the take-aways from the Cass review was the issue of prescribing of puberty blockers to young children, which states that it compromises bone density.
I appreciate that it is early days and a number of organisations will need to look at the report, but with that in mind, how alarmed do you feel about that? You have set out what trans and non-binary children might be looking for against potential harm being done to them by being given these drugs too early in their development. Have you made any further assessment of that specific issue rather than the general context we have talked about?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (Strategic Plan 2024-28)
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
I am sure that we will all watch the area with interest. Thank you.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (Strategic Plan 2024-28)
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
Good morning and thank you for attending. I put on the record that I also enjoyed your wee video, especially the use of the pentatonic scale for the young children.
Before I go on to my main question, I want to pick up on what my colleague, Stephanie Callaghan, asked about the potential for another commissioner for learning, disability and neurodiversity. I assume that you are aware that the funding for all the commissioners is top-sliced off the SPCB budget. There is the law of diminishing returns, so the more commissioners there are, the less there will be to go around, given the budget constraints. Are you aware of that and did you reflect that in your submission to the recent research into the potential for a new commissioner?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (Strategic Plan 2024-28)
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
I have read your strategic document, which talks a lot about children’s rights, and rightly so. The flipside is your organisation’s responsibilities. I appreciate that it is early days but what assessment have you made thus far of the implications of the Cass review on children’s rights and your responsibilities therein?
Meeting of the Parliament
Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Michelle Thomson
On that point, I want to enable the minister to set the record straight. I am not sure what actions Police Scotland is taking to incorporate the precedent that was set in Miller v College of Policing in December 2021, which applies to England and Wales, where it was determined that the policy of reporting non-crime hate incidents breached article 10.
I understand that Police Scotland reported in its bulletin of April to September 2023 that it would adopt the policy, but to what extent has it done so? Will the minister set out the specific details of whether the policy has been fully incorporated or whether it is being incorporated through a staged process?
