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 2160 contributions
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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
I mean that the legislation will add another thing that people will have to do.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Future Agriculture Policy
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
I am glad that you have brought up that important point. Soft fruit growers have witnessed tunnels lying empty and plants being ripped up, shredded and mulched because the growers can no longer make money from them. My understanding is that, although the increase in the shelf price was about 11 per cent last year and about 14 per cent the year before that, the price that is paid to the producer has remained static or has been pushed down. Will you roll out that shared-risk initiative to all the sectors that you work with?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Future Agriculture Policy
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
Okay, but do you accept that we have only one pig processing plant and only one chicken processing plant left in the country and that the pressures will continue to grow? Do you accept that, if we want to have a resilient industry in Scotland, your group of organisations has a vital responsibility to maintain a long-term supply chain?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
Penny Middleton has said that everybody accepts that we need to control foxes. I ask Bob Elliot, Mike Flynn and Libby Anderson to say whether they agree with that.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
Yes, but do you accept that, in certain circumstances, there is a need to control the numbers of foxes?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
SLE has proposed a licensing scheme to enable the continued use of certain snares—the cable restraints that Glynn Evans has just mentioned—under a specific licence for specified purposes, including preventing harm to wildlife, game birds, livestock and crops. Mike Flynn, what is your view on that?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
I will put this question to Susan Davies, Mike Flynn and David Lynn—and it is a very straightforward one. Susan, you just said that there is a very good working relationship between Police Scotland and the SSPCA at the moment. What is the need for the extra powers?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
Mike, do you agree that that is the purpose of the power?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
Do you accept that, as Penny Middleton says, there is a need to control foxes in certain circumstances? Do you agree with that principle?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
Jim Fairlie
This question is probably more important to David Lynn and Kevin Kelly, but it is actually directed at Mike Flynn. If that sounds complicated, I hope that it will make sense. You were talking about the level of training and the inquisitive and inquiring mind that one needs to do such investigations. You clearly know what that looks and feels like, Mike, but—with all due respect—Iain was talking about a different level of inspection and gathering of evidence at the very early stages. What level of training would you get? Would it be provided through Police Scotland and, which is as important, how would you pay for it? I understand that all the funding that you get comes through charitable donations. Is that correct? If that is the case, how would you pay for that level of training?
