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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Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Good morning, and welcome to the 14th meeting in 2025 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received apologies from Pauline McNeill and Fulton MacGregor, and Sharon Dowey joins us online.
Our first item of business is an opportunity to put questions to the Scottish Government on a negative instrument that is scheduled to come into force on 30 November this year. I refer members to paper 1, which sets out the purpose of the instrument.
We are joined this morning by Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, and Patrick Down, criminal law and procedure team leader at the Scottish Government. Welcome to you both, and thank you for joining us. I invite the cabinet secretary to say a few words about the purpose of the Scottish statutory instrument.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with stakeholders regarding the tall ships races Aberdeen 2025. (S6O-04583)
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
The tall ships races event is set to be a major event for Aberdeen and the north-east, with projections of around 400,000 visitors and an estimated £30 million boost to the local economy. The event will support businesses across the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors and it will support wider community engagement, such as sail training for young people. Hosting the tall ships will also enhance Aberdeen’s international reputation as a vibrant, welcoming city and help to secure a lasting legacy for major events.
Will the minister further outline how the Scottish Government is promoting Scotland’s reputation as a leading events destination, maximising the opportunities that are presented by events such as the tall ships races that will ensure a lasting positive impact on the region and across Scotland?
Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Our next item of business is the consideration of a Scottish statutory instrument that is subject to the negative procedure. I refer members to paper 1, which sets out the purpose of the regulations. I declare an interest, which is that I am a former police officer.
Do members wish to make any recommendations in relation to the negative instrument, or are we content that it comes into force?
Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
People’s Panel on Tackling Drug Harm and Deaths
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Absolutely—thank you for that helpful suggestion.
We have covered some action points, but are there any further action points that members wish to suggest, or are we content with where we are? As there are no further comments, we move into private session.
10:10 Meeting continued in private until 10:39.Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
People’s Panel on Tackling Drug Harm and Deaths
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Thank you for that suggestion. The cabinet secretary provided the cross-committee group with an initial response, which formed part of our scrutiny at the cross-committee group. However, it is a helpful suggestion that we consolidate the Government’s position on the recommendations, so I am happy to take that away as an action point. We can come back with a written update on the recommendations, aligned with the work that has already been completed or is already under way—and which the Scottish Government has already provided an update on—along with the outstanding work that you have referenced. I am happy to pull that together for the committee.
Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Super. On that basis, is the committee agreed to make no recommendations on the instrument?
Members indicated agreement.
Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
People’s Panel on Tackling Drug Harm and Deaths
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Our next item of business is the consideration of a paper on the recommendations of the recent people’s panel on drug harm and deaths. I refer members to paper 2.
As members will be aware, a people’s panel is a form of public engagement that brings together a randomly selected and broadly representative sample of the population to consider and discuss an issue and make recommendations. The Scottish Parliament held a people’s panel on tackling drug deaths and harm over two weekends in October and November 2024. Two additional online sessions were held in November 2024. A summary of the panel process and its outcomes is set out in paper 2.
I invite members to comment on the report that the people’s panel has produced. On behalf of members of the committee, I extend my thanks to all the participants who took part in the people’s panel, as well as the parliamentary staff who organised it. I know that it involved a great deal of planning and logistics work. Having attended a couple of the panel’s sessions, I know that those were great opportunities for the public to come together on an issue that we are well aware of.
Is the committee content to note that the recommendation for an inquiry into drug use in prisons is now being taken forward by us—the Criminal Justice Committee—and that we invite the Parliament’s participation and communities team to let the panel participants know that the recommendation is now being implemented?
Members indicated agreement.
Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Thanks very much for that update. The access to pensions by Police Scotland officers is an issue that the committee has looked at in the past. On the basis of your update, I am more than happy for the committee to write to Ivan McKee, as Minister for Public Finance, on the issues that you have raised.
Before we move on, I want to confirm that members are happy that the SSI comes into force. In particular, I want to confirm that with Liam Kerr, because he is joining us online.
Criminal Justice Committee (Draft)
Decision on Taking Business in Private
Meeting date: 23 April 2025
Audrey Nicoll
Good morning, and welcome to the 13th meeting in 2025 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received apologies from Pauline McNeill, and Liam Kerr joins us remotely.
Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take in private item 4, which is consideration of our work programme. Do we agree to take that item in private?
Members indicated agreement.
