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 812 contributions
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Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
The Make Space for Girls website talks about how parks and play equipment in public spaces for older children and teenagers are currently designed around the default male, and how we need to start making spaces for girls.
Girls can feel quite intimidated going into a multi-use games area, especially if it has high fences and a narrow entrance and things like that. What are your views on that, and are there any examples of that kind of design working for girls and girls being involved in it?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
It is good to know that there is co-design and that people are talking about trust and agency and girls being understood.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
You touched on endometriosis and heavy periods, which I suffered from really badly when I was younger. You are absolutely right about the fact that we are not educating young women and girls about what is normal—what they should expect—and when they should seek support, and I completely agree with your points. It was sometimes a challenge for me to get through a full school period, never mind go to PE and jump about. My concern with that is about how we ensure that teachers and support staff are listening to girls and taking them seriously, because, across different portfolios and remits, we repeatedly hear that women and girls are often not listened to. What can you say about that?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
There are lots of amazing young people; I could not agree more.
11:00Education, Children and Young People Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 8 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
We might want to mention things such as automatic enrolment—that might be helpful.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
I do not disagree with much of what you have said. I hear such stuff myself. However, the part that really concerns me, as you know, and as we hear when we talk to practitioners, is that transitions should not be separate but organic and built in all the way through.
I know that North Lanarkshire Council has done loads of great work over the past 12 years. It has been absolutely fabulous and fantastic. However, practitioners have said that legislation is legislation but it is about the quality that is underneath that. We have heard them say that they are worried about the idea of having yet another plan. Plans are piling up on somebody’s desk and it becomes something to be completed. That could be reductionist and could end up being a bit of a tick-box exercise for them as well, so the plan might get in the way of some of the good practice that they are doing and that is evolving.
Would it not be better to focus on the good practice that is happening just now rather than what is specifically in the bill—to look at bringing that forward, really supporting it and bringing in legislation to support it and make sure that it is happening, if there turns out to be a need for that?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
Thanks for allowing me to come back in, convener.
Bill Scott made a really important point about scrutiny really making a change in that area. I really appreciate that.
I go back to Ross Greer’s point about practice. For example, we heard about a wee boy who wanted to be a pilot. He was taken along to the airport, and he was as interested in the baggage as much as he was in anything else, so he ended up with a job in the baggage department. Will the bill really be the thing that changes practice? Would that happen for other wee boys? Would it change things for them? That is the nitty-gritty of the issue.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 March 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
Thank you for being here this morning, Pam. It is great that you have been highlighting this stuff.
What you said about your mum saying, “Now I can be a mum again,” was really quite powerful. That is so important. You mentioned the legislative salad and the fact that none of the legislation is delivering what needs to be delivered. Having guidance, strategies and duties is absolutely fine, but the issue comes down to relationships, advocacy and people feeling that they have agency.
We have heard from young people and families—this has been mentioned in the evidence that has been submitted to us, too—that professionals will often identify “positive destinations” for them but that those do not always reflect the aspirations and interests of young people or the things that matter to them and their families. We have also heard about data and control and about young people wanting to own their own story, to have that agency and control, and to have choices around sharing their data.
I am interested in two specific issues. First, how will the bill bring an approach that is centred around the young person and their aspirations? Secondly, how will it improve their outcomes?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Budget 2023-24
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
What direct impact would a cut in teacher numbers have on closing the attainment gap?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
Stephanie Callaghan
It is great when people are aware of the fund and they are putting in applications to get that funding, but the spread of awareness seems to be quite uneven. There are people who do not know about it and others who do. Are we getting the balance right, or should the fund be broadened out? Should we look at making it available to everyone? I know that anyone can apply for it just now, but I am talking about whether everybody should have access to it almost automatically.
