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 1480 contributions
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Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
I accept what it says; witnesses are more than welcome to give their opinion. I have already said that the numbers fluctuate, so I do not think that there are inaccuracies, but the costs need to be updated.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
That is fine. Thank you, convener. I am happy to get to your question.
I know that that issue was raised during the evidence sessions and in written evidence. As I said, following careful consideration of the responses to the consultation, the Scottish Government is content that additional legislative provision in relation to restraint is not necessary to ensure the safety of the child and others. That is because an overly prescriptive approach to minimising restraint practices could have adverse consequences in relation to escalation and criminalisation. Instead, ministers consider that a blended framework of regulation, guidance, practice support and precise reporting is likely to serve Scotland’s children best.
Work is on-going with partners to reduce and, where possible, eliminate the use of restraint with children in care. That includes working with the Scottish physical restraint action group to explore definitions of restraint along with the availability of data, training and support.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
There are no inaccuracies. It needs to be—
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Yes—it needs to be updated.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Sorry?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
On the support for social work, I will hand over to my official, who might give a clearer response on that.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
I believe that 16 and 17-year-olds should be treated as children within the criminal justice system.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
That is another important question. As I have said, like any measure through the children’s hearings system, an MRC can be imposed only if it is better for the child than not having it, when it is necessary and when it meets the child’s welfare needs, which is a paramount consideration. An MRC is intended to be a restriction on a child’s liberty, not a deprivation. As I said, it is the most extreme measure prior to secure care.
In terms of its effectiveness, if a child does not comply with an order, the local authority must notify the children’s reporter to require a review of that order. A children’s hearing will reconsider the child’s whole circumstances in order to consider whether any additional or alternative measures are needed in order to address the child’s behaviour. The scheduling of those hearings are prioritised, given the potential requirement for more restrictive measures to be put into place. As with other elements of a child’s plan, including the risk management plan, monitoring and reviewing the risk, vulnerabilities and potential adverse outcomes are key. A MRC can be reviewed and monitored on an on-going basis.
Criminal Justice Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 19 April 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Again, that was a thorough answer, but I will add a little to it. Prisons are not places for children, as we have discussed this morning, but we acknowledge that there are obviously circumstances in which people need protected from children who have caused harm. There are rigorous risk assessments involved with regard to both the individual child and the children who are already in the secure care centre. We really want to emphasise that.
The secure care centre is the most appropriate form of care, regardless of the gravity of the crime in any given situation, because it will be a nurturing environment that offers the best chance of giving the child or young person the opportunity to rehabilitate and change their path in life. That element of secure care needs to be emphasised, in comparison with the situation for older adults.
Criminal Justice Committee
Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 19 April 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
We certainly do not want to give that impression. Secure care is, without a doubt, the most intensive and restrictive form of care in Scotland. I have visited one such centre. They are places where a child is, as Fulton MacGregor has stated, deprived of their liberty in a locked environment, while, at the same time, care, support and education are provided. When a child is placed in secure care, public protection and safety considerations are at the forefront. The child is cared for in a locked facility and, over a longer term, they are provided with support to aid their rehabilitation and reintegration.
That goes back to what I said earlier. We need to balance restrictions and the reduction of liberty with a nurturing environment in which 16 and 17-year-olds who might have committed offences have the chance to rehabilitate themselves in an appropriate setting. More work might need to be done to convey that image, but secure care is definitely not a soft-touch approach.
