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 1152 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
National Planning Framework 4
Meeting date: 8 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Can the minister say a bit more about how NPF4 will reshape places for local people and, in doing so, assist with Scotland’s response to the climate emergency?
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 3 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
I agree that we can be rightly proud of Scotland’s record on wage equality, which means that we have the highest proportion of workers in the UK who are paid above the living wage, as well as the lowest gender pay gap.
However, our progress has been impeded by a broken UK labour market. Does the First Minister agree that we can truly address wage inequality only through Scottish independence, which will provide an opportunity to embed equality principles in our labour laws and to design a system that better meets the needs of Scotland’s workers and employers? [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 3 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
To ask the First Minister what work the Scottish Government is doing to improve living wage equality. (S6F-01481)
Meeting of the Parliament
Allied Health Professions Day 2022
Meeting date: 3 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
I thank Carol Mochan. I am delighted that we were able to reschedule the debate so that we can celebrate allied health professionals. From what I saw, it was definitely a party last time, and I hope that AHPs will all be partying again tonight.
When we think of our NHS, it is usually images of doctors and nurses that spring to mind, but the 14 allied health professions make up the third largest group of healthcare workers in the NHS. Other members, including Christine Grahame, have identified those professions. Allied health professionals play a vital role in the delivery of health and social care services to people across Scotland. They are rightly valued by professionals, patients and families alike.
We have watched our healthcare professionals go above and beyond the call of duty over the past few years. They have adapted not just their practice but, sometimes, their whole lives, and they have shown a selfless determination to provide essential care to others. That includes our allied health professionals, and many of us are forever grateful. Allied health professionals often help to reduce or remove the need for medical interventions, which helps to drive service improvement and sustainability across community and acute sectors, and they are set to play a vital role as we build a national care service that is fit for Scotland’s people.
I will give a couple of local stories. In South Lanarkshire, the autism resource co-ordination hub supports autistic families, including my own. I remember quite a few parent-carer sessions with a range of AHPs that were organised through the ARCH. The one that stands out most in my memory was a visit from an occupational therapist. She set out some tasks that were designed to give parents a flavour of how autistic kids experience the world. For the first exercise, all the parents were given a set of boxing gloves and were instructed to open a packet of crisps. Trust me, it is not easy; it is almost impossible.
Next, we were handed a set of binoculars and were told to hold them back to front so that everything looked really wee. We then had to try to step inside some empty boxes. To be honest, it was hilarious, and I will never forget the feeling of waving my foot around as I tried to land it inside a large box, with my proprioception thrown right off kilter. The tasks were simple but really effective. I was able to experience my child’s challenges for myself, and I am still grateful to that OT for giving me a little window into his world. The experience inspired patience when my child struggled with tasks that others perceived as being really easy, and it made me a better parent.
The ARCH works closely with a couple of NHS Lanarkshire allied health professionals who are trained as specialist autism advisers. They deliver a range of workshops that focus on sensory issues and life skills such as eating, washing and dressing, and they offer lots of practical strategies that empower autistic people to go out there and live their best lives as independently as possible. Those AHPs are often described by colleagues as superstars, and Ramon Hutchinson, the project co-ordinator, talks enthusiastically about their passion, curiosity and empathy as they work with families to understand and support them through the challenges that neurodivergence brings.
A second organisation in my constituency, Enable Scotland, places huge value on its work with allied health professionals. It highlights their skilled approach and input to multidisciplinary teams as they support individuals with complex needs. I am told that their focus on achieving the outcomes that really matter to individuals is always key, from supported self-management to rehabilitation and therapeutic services.
Enable Care told me the story of a young Lanarkshire man who spent several years in hospital before eventually securing a home in the community where he could live, with support. That was far from a simple task—it was fraught with complexities and difficulties, and it took a long time—but the team’s determination made it happen. The support of AHPs was critical in the young man getting his life back. That just could not have happened without them.
It is only fair that we celebrate and showcase the contributions that our AHPs make to individuals and our society, so I say to all our AHPs: we see you, and we thank you.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Colleges Regionalisation Inquiry
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
What consideration has been given to improving completion rates for students with additional support needs and disabilities? What impact has regionalisation had on those students?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Colleges Regionalisation Inquiry
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Are students with additional support needs and disabilities able to have enough influence on college decision making—for example, at the college board level? Having that influence can help to improve the conditions for them and make it more likely that they will be able to succeed and complete.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Colleges Regionalisation Inquiry
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Could the Scottish Government take any steps to create more opportunities to share good practice across colleges?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Universities
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Yes, thank you, convener.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Colleges Regionalisation Inquiry
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
I am wondering whether there is anything you feel the Scottish Government can do to support further sharing across the college sector to embed good practice widely.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Universities
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
I have a couple of questions that I will roll into one.
Wellbeing has rightly been a key priority, with the Scottish Government funding 80 additional university mental health counsellors. First, is adequate support available for students who are struggling with their mental health? Secondly, we heard in evidence about the positive impact of the additional mental health counsellors and about the possibility of funding them from budgets other than the education budget; can you say anything further on that just now or offer an idea of the timescales and the decisions around continued funding for mental health counsellors?
