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 [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 15 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the transport secretary has had with the justice secretary regarding action it is taking to tackle freight crime in Scotland. (S6O-05379)
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Meeting date: 15 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
Will the minister give way?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Meeting date: 15 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
I express my disappointment at the recent Scottish Government budget announcement with regard to funding for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Notwithstanding the constraints on the Scottish Government’s budget, does the minister agree that there is a case to continue calling on the United Kingdom Government to consider how borrowing and the use of reserves can be offered to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 15 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
Increasing freight crime reporting is a significant challenge for hauliers. The true cost of freight crime is estimated by the national vehicle crime intelligence service to be around £700 million a year and, largely, it is carried out by organised criminal gangs. The second strategic transport projects review included a recommendation for a national audit of freight facilities—specifically, lorry parks and rest areas, which are crucial to drivers’ safety and secure parking.
Given the key role played by our road haulage industry in supporting our economy—not least in the building of new homes, constructing wind farms and improving our national infrastructure, to name but a few—can the cabinet secretary say more about the progress that is being made following the audit in order to improve safety for hauliers and reduce freight crime across the country?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 15 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
It is understood that the tanker that was seized by US authorities last week is currently in Scottish waters. I understand from reports that the First Minister was not briefed on that by the United Kingdom Government. Can the First Minister provide an update on the Scottish Government’s understanding of the current situation with regard to the seized tanker?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Budget 2026-27
Meeting date: 13 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
Community justice services play a hugely important but, sadly, often unrecognised role in the rehabilitation of offenders and in reducing recidivism. In turn, they make a significant contribution to the Scottish Government’s priorities of supporting families, promoting wellbeing and eradicating child poverty. Will the cabinet secretary reaffirm that the budget will maintain the level of support that is required to deliver sustainable and meaningful community justice services across Scotland?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 8 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
This week’s severe weather has seen the UK’s power demand reach a seven-year high as households struggle to keep warm through the winter storms. In energy-rich Scotland, that power demand sits alongside skyrocketing energy bills as families pay through the nose to heat their homes. Does the First Minister agree that the sooner Scotland’s energy is in the hands of Scotland’s people, the better that will be for lower bills, economic growth and meaningful community ownership? [Interruption.]
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
Thank you, Ms Gosal. Certainly, there is no doubt about your passion and commitment to the bill. I will kick off with a broad question. As you will be aware, the majority of organisational evidence that the committee has heard reflects a lack of support, to be blunt, about the bill’s ability to achieve the aims that you have set out and that you are clearly passionate about. As succinctly as possible, what evidence do you have that the bill as drafted would achieve a reduction in domestic abuse offences, and reoffending in particular?
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
I will bring in Rona Mackay before we move to questions on part 2 of the bill.
Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 January 2026
Audrey Nicoll
I will conclude that line of questioning.
For Ms Gosal’s benefit, I add that the practice across agencies that are responding to domestic abuse nowadays certainly does take into account the need to minimise trauma and, therefore, a lot of information sharing across organisations is done with consent. I share the concerns that Jamie Hepburn alluded to with regard to the risk that some of the data collection proposals in the bill might compromise trauma-informed approaches.
We move on to part 4, on school education, with questions from Katy Clark. Any other members who wish to ask questions on this theme can indicate that to the clerk.
