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 2148 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
I have to disagree with Katy Clark on that. The act was brought in as a preventative measure; it was not a short-term quick fix. Control zones have been developed to support the long-term cultural change on fireworks. As I have said, such change will not happen quickly. A programme of work has progressed, at pace, to successfully commence firework control zones, in line with the original timescales, on 22 June 2023. I know that my officials are engaging with all local authorities and are making progress, and the zones might be in place for next year.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
The £36 million savings figure for 2026-27 that has been quoted by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s chief officer is based on various assumptions about inflation, pay increases and future funding levels, all of which can change over time. The resource spending review provides long-term indicative spending plans for the Scottish Government, based on the challenging financial situation that we currently find ourselves in. Although it is appropriate for the SFRS to assess its long-term planning up to 2026-27 on that basis, that assessment does not replace the annual budget that is presented to the Parliament. The amount that is allocated to the SFRS in the annual budget will be based on a robust assessment of need—as was the case for 2023-24, when we gave it an extra £14.4 million.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
Ensuring that our firefighters are properly trained and equipped is a ministerial priority in the “Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2022”. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has an assistant chief officer with dedicated responsibility for training, to properly address that strategic priority. Some aspects of training fell behind as a result of the Covid restrictions, but the service is addressing that backlog as a priority.
His Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate in Scotland carries out independent inspections of fire service activity, and training is examined as part of the HMFSI service delivery area inspection programme. The “Inspection of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service: East Service Delivery Area” report was published on 19 October, and the service will be taking forward all the recommendations that that report contains.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
Firefighters’ safety and wellbeing are a priority for the Scottish Government and the fire service. The SFRS continues to make progress with its contamination working group, and I was pleased that we were recently able to contribute £56,000 to allow Scottish firefighters to be part of the current health screening trials.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
Since 2017-18, there have been substantial year-on-year increases in funding to support the SFRS to create a modern and effective fire and rescue service. The annual budget for the SFRS for 2023-24 is more than £55.3 million higher than it was in 2017-18. I highlight to Sharon Dowey that, during First Minister’s question time on 26 October, the First Minister made it clear that
“We continue to invest in our fire service. I want to thank and pay tribute to the FBU and to our firefighters on the ground. I will continue to promise them that we will, as long as we are in Government, continue to ensure that they get the investment that they need to keep”
the community
“safe.”—[Official Report, 26 October 2023; c 16.]
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
I recognise the role that the Fire Brigades Union plays in highlighting the concerns of its members, including in the publication of its “Firestorm” report. I agree with many points in that report—including that our firefighters should be paid a fair wage for the work that they do and should be properly trained and equipped to deal with the wide range of emergency incidents that they attend.
As I said in my previous answer, the more than £368 million that we are providing to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service this year is an increase of £14.4 million on last year. The Scottish Government will continue to support the SFRS to prioritise public safety.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
I will be clear: the Scottish Government is not in dispute with the FBU. The FBU campaigns on behalf of its members, as all trade unions do, and we share the aim of having an effective Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to keep our communities safe. I meet the FBU regularly and am next scheduled to meet it this month.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 2 November 2023
Siobhian Brown
The number of fatal fire casualties per million of population has been on a long-term downward trend in each nation since the early 2000s. In the early 2010s, that trend levelled off, but the different demographics and urban and rural profiles of each nation are the likely factors that explain the different rates for fires. The Scottish Government will continue to work with the FBU and the SFRS to ensure that they have the money that they need to keep communities safe.
Meeting of the Parliament
Fire Service
Meeting date: 31 October 2023
Siobhian Brown
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I have a lot to get through.
Fires and fire deaths in all domestic premises have reduced in the past 20 years. Statistics that came out today show that there were 26,825 fire incidents in 2022-23, which is a decrease of 3.5 per cent on the previous year; that there has been an 11.9 per cent decrease in the number of primary fires over the past 10 years; and that dwelling fires have consistently reduced over the past 10 years, with a 26.1 per cent reduction since 2012-13.
Deputy Presiding Officer, I want to address some points that members have made. Is that all right? I do not know how I am going for time.
Meeting of the Parliament
Fire Service
Meeting date: 31 October 2023
Siobhian Brown
Does Sharon Dowey acknowledge that the £36 million in savings that is based on the assumption of inflation pay increases is from the resource revenue that is predicted for the next five years and is not the actual budget?
