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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Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 11:48]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
The Scottish Government is focused on the delivery of our strategic approach to challenging demand for prostitution, including work with Police Scotland to support the implementation of its national approach on prostitution.
As the member knows, we have already set out the unequivocal position that prostitution is violence against women and girls and that the purchase of sex should be criminalised. [Interruption.] The member is aware of the reasons why we could not take forward her bill. Further, we will take forward the Criminal Justice Committee’s recommendation that an independent commission be established to consider the issues that were raised throughout stage 1 of that bill and inform future legislation in which the Parliament can have confidence.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 11:48]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
As the member and Parliament know, I have been working closely with the legal profession over the past couple of years to see what can be put in place to improve access to justice. One of the main things that we can do is provide an uplift. Regulations to do that were laid in Parliament on 28 January. If the measure is approved, it will provide a 13 per cent increase in legal aid fees and fixed payments for solicitors.
As I said to Paul McLennan, once the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 has been commenced, it will remove restrictions that prevent charities, law centres and citizens advice bodies from directly employing solicitors.
I have set up an independent fee review mechanism group to explore the fundamental changes that are required to create a legal assistance system for the 21st century. In addition, the Scottish budget has made provision to double the number of places for legal aid traineeships from 20 to 40 in order to improve the sustainability and capacity of the legal profession. The work continues.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 11:48]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
Our reforms to legal aid will strengthen access to justice, which is a central aim of our changes. Parliament has approved reforms to children’s and criminal legal aid to remove means and merit testing in the children’s hearings system and to reduce financial barriers for young people who are moving on from care. For criminal cases, the reforms will reduce complexity, support early resolution of cases and guarantee timely representation.
The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 will remove restrictions that prevent charities, law centres and citizens advice bodies from directly employing solicitors to provide certain legal services. In addition, the legal aid traineeship fund is part of our longer-term commitment to improving the sustainability and capacity of the legal aid profession.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 11:48]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring access to justice in remote areas. Funding is available to allow solicitors to travel to remote parts of the country, which ensures that individuals do not have to rely on local provision alone when they seek publicly funded legal assistance. Furthermore, the Scottish Legal Aid Board funds 16 projects, including in East Lothian, to support people who are facing court action. We fund public legal services through the Civil Legal Assistance Office and the Public Defence Solicitors Office.
All those services can operate across a wide geographical area. In addition, through our on-going reform programme, we are considering how different funding models can be used to strengthen access to legal aid where it is needed most.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 11:48]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
There is an extensive list of work, which I will try to summarise in the time available. When it comes to legislation, there is the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007 and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.
As the member was responsible for that area for four years, she will be aware of the 2020 consultation on challenging men’s demand for prostitution, which led to a commitment to developing a model for Scotland that effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand. A short-life working group was set up in November 2021 to support the design of that development, policy principles were published in 2022 and the strategy was published in February 2024. Joint work with Police Scotland on operation begonia started in December 2024 and was adopted nationally in April 2025.
In addition, we are part of a five-jurisdiction group on commercial sexual exploitation that brings together the four United Kingdom nations and the Republic of Ireland. In the draft Scottish budget for 2026-27, further funding has been announced for support services.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
Our reforms to legal aid will strengthen access to justice, which is a central aim of our changes. Parliament has approved reforms to children’s and criminal legal aid to remove means and merit testing in the children’s hearings system and to reduce financial barriers for young people who are moving on from care. For criminal cases, the reforms will reduce complexity, support early resolution of cases and guarantee timely representation.
The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 will remove restrictions that prevent charities, law centres and citizens advice bodies from directly employing solicitors to provide certain legal services. In addition, the legal aid traineeship fund is part of our longer-term commitment to improving the sustainability and capacity of the legal aid profession.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
The Scottish Government is focused on the delivery of our strategic approach to challenging demand for prostitution, including work with Police Scotland to support the implementation of its national approach on prostitution.
As the member knows, we have already set out the unequivocal position that prostitution is violence against women and girls and that the purchase of sex should be criminalised. [Interruption.] The member is aware of the reasons why we could not take forward her bill. Further, we will take forward the Criminal Justice Committee’s recommendation that an independent commission be established to consider the issues that were raised throughout stage 1 of that bill and inform future legislation in which the Parliament can have confidence.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring access to justice in remote areas. Funding is available to allow solicitors to travel to remote parts of the country, which ensures that individuals do not have to rely on local provision alone when they seek publicly funded legal assistance. Furthermore, the Scottish Legal Aid Board funds 16 projects, including in East Lothian, to support people who are facing court action. We fund public legal services through the Civil Legal Assistance Office and the Public Defence Solicitors Office.
All those services can operate across a wide geographical area. In addition, through our on-going reform programme, we are considering how different funding models can be used to strengthen access to legal aid where it is needed most.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
As the member and Parliament know, I have been working closely with the legal profession over the past couple of years to see what can be put in place to improve access to justice. One of the main things that we can do is provide an uplift. Regulations to do that were laid in Parliament on 28 January. If the measure is approved, it will provide a 13 per cent increase in legal aid fees and fixed payments for solicitors.
As I said to Paul McLennan, once the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 has been commenced, it will remove restrictions that prevent charities, law centres and citizens advice bodies from directly employing solicitors.
I have set up an independent fee review mechanism group to explore the fundamental changes that are required to create a legal assistance system for the 21st century. In addition, the Scottish budget has made provision to double the number of places for legal aid traineeships from 20 to 40 in order to improve the sustainability and capacity of the legal profession. The work continues.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 18 February 2026
Siobhian Brown
There is an extensive list of work, which I will try to summarise in the time available. When it comes to legislation, there is the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007 and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.
As the member was responsible for that area for four years, she will be aware of the 2020 consultation on challenging men’s demand for prostitution, which led to a commitment to developing a model for Scotland that effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand. A short-life working group was set up in November 2021 to support the design of that development, policy principles were published in 2022 and the strategy was published in February 2024. Joint work with Police Scotland on operation begonia started in December 2024 and was adopted nationally in April 2025.
In addition, we are part of a five-jurisdiction group on commercial sexual exploitation that brings together the four United Kingdom nations and the Republic of Ireland. In the draft Scottish budget for 2026-27, further funding has been announced for support services.
