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 3931 contributions
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Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2022-23
Meeting date: 6 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
Mr MacGregor, I was unaware that you wanted to come in.
Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2022-23
Meeting date: 6 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
I am delighted to welcome Mr Colin Lancaster, the chief executive of the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Thank you very much for your written submission, which is available online. I intend to allow about an hour for questions and discussion.
The session will be structured around a number of themes, starting with administrative costs, which Rhona Mackay will pick up.
Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2022-23
Meeting date: 6 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
Unless anyone has any specific questions on administrative costs, I would like to move on to looking at general trends around legal aid and the number of legal aid applications that are being granted.
During a previous session, we have spoken with you about how the trend has been downwards. There are reasons for that, such as the pandemic. I am interested in whether you think that there are other underlying reasons why we are seeing a downward trend. What might that mean in the longer term for legal aid budgeting and for legal aid firms offering legal aid work?
Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2022-23
Meeting date: 6 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
That is really helpful. I will hand over to Rona Mackay, who is interested in how to balance the budget.
Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2022-23
Meeting date: 6 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
Please do not.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Supreme Court Judgment
Meeting date: 6 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
Paragraph 33 of the judgment highlights the fact that the Welsh Government did not face a legal challenge on the provisions of the Rights of the Child and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011, which incorporated the UNCRC. That makes the point even more starkly that it was the UK Government’s choice to challenge the Scottish Government’s bill and not a necessity. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that only goes to demonstrate that the Tory Government at Westminster cares more about exercising unfettered power over Scotland than it does about the rights of children?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Big Noise Programme (Wester Hailes)
Meeting date: 5 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
I congratulate Gordon MacDonald on bringing the motion to the chamber. I am delighted to speak in a debate celebrating big noise Wester Hailes. I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am a councillor in the Torry/Ferryhill ward of Aberdeen. Torry is the home of big noise Torry.
We have heard about the pivotal role that Sistema Scotland plays in delivering big noise, from Aberdeen in the north, to Dundee, Stirling, Glasgow and, of course, Edinburgh early next year. Sistema Scotland believes that music and nurturing relationships play a critical role in inspiring individuals and communities. Within that, big noise recognises the impact of poverty and inequality on opportunities for children and young people to develop self-esteem, confidence and friendships, all of which are key components to them realising their ambitions and aspirations for the future.
In 2015, big noise Torry was born. Funded by Aberdeen City Council and many local partners, it has transformed the lives of many local children and young people through music. I pay tribute to Jim Kiddie, a former local Torry councillor who, like so many others, worked tirelessly to make big noise Torry happen. The programme now supports over 600 children and young people, working directly with Walker Road and Tullos primary and nursery schools. Incredibly, big noise Torry reached a milestone last August when its oldest participants started secondary school in Lochside academy.
Throughout the pandemic, big noise Torry has worked closely with local schools to maintain the wellbeing of children and families and ensure continuity of learning. During the first lockdown, big noise Torry went virtual, delivering numerous online music lessons. Such was the demand for lessons that its delivery extended beyond primary 1 to 3 and went all the way up to primary 7. During the second lockdown, the strength of the partnerships between local primary schools and big noise enabled musicians to become key workers, supporting educational delivery and wellbeing support for vulnerable children.
Meanwhile, the team continued to play a leading role in digital development and was the first big noise centre to use Facebook live during the first lockdown. It subsequently supported other centres during big noise birthday week. Alongside the Wednesday wee ones videos, big noise Torry continues to have weekly Facebook live broadcasts for participants and community members. Lorna Carruthers has recently joined big noise Torry in the role of head of centre, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge that will ensure that big noise Torry goes from strength to strength.
The 2019 evaluation of big noise undertaken by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health reported consistent positive impacts on participants’ lives and recognised that, at the heart of big noise is a quality, meaningful and trusted relationship between musicians and participants. Big noise musicians are educators and mentors and can become role models. It is through those types of relationships that people change lives.
I welcome the inclusion of Sistema Scotland and similar initiatives in the Deputy First Minister’s statement on the Covid recovery strategy earlier this afternoon as important strategies supporting the wellbeing of children. I wish big noise Wester Hailes the very best of luck and I cannot wait to watch its first online music performance.
17:39Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 5 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
Does the cabinet secretary agree that comments that were made by the North Yorkshire police commissioner, who blamed Sarah Everard for her murder by saying that she “never should have submitted” to arrest, were completely inappropriate? Does he agree that we should never blame women or leave it up to women to fix the problem of male violence and that, for change to happen, it needs to be accepted by everyone?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Covid-19 Recovery Strategy
Meeting date: 5 October 2021
Audrey Nicoll
Households on low incomes are experiencing significant pressure due to Covid-19, which will only be made worse by the UK Government’s ill-judged moves to cut universal credit and the furlough scheme. Does the cabinet secretary agree that those decisions should be reversed immediately? Can he provide further detail on the actions that the Scottish Government will take as part of the strategy to support households on low incomes?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Urgent Question
Meeting date: 30 September 2021
Audrey Nicoll
In what ways does the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 provide tangible support for those who have experienced abuse in care?
