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.
Filter your results Hide all filters
Displaying 1152 contributions
|
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
I thank the panel for coming along. Sir Harry said early on that it is critical to ask people what matters to them and then to help them to achieve that, which can also save costs down the line. What further provisions could the bill include to ensure that the focus is on person-centred care rather than cost?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Does anybody else feel that there is anything that we could include in the bill that would help to centre that?
Meeting of the Parliament
Moray Maternity Services
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
How will NHS Grampian adopt robust clinical governance arrangements in the maternity service that fulfil the requirements of the clinical and care governance framework?
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 6 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to curb the reported sharp rise in e-cigarette use among teenagers. (S6F-01433)
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 6 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
The recent consultation “Tightening rules on advertising and promoting vaping products” produced polarised views. However, given that major Scottish football clubs are signing partnerships with vaping companies, and given reports that TikTok influencers are platforming such products to young people online, we need decisive action to control the crisis before it spirals out of control. Will the First Minister confirm whether further consideration has been given to introducing stricter regulations on the sale and marketing of e-cigarette products, both online and offline, and whether an effective, clear and educational public health message that addresses the new epidemic of nicotine addiction in children and young people is being developed?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Colleges Regionalisation Inquiry
Meeting date: 5 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
You have picked up on what I was going to ask next about part-time courses.
I am interested in what you said about community learning and working with training providers, which is on-going with people in the college. What is different with those partnerships is that there is activity-based learning, group work, outdoor education and a focus on those kinds of things. What kind of joint work are you doing on that?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Colleges Regionalisation Inquiry
Meeting date: 5 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Earlier, Andrew Witty mentioned cross-agency work; perhaps James Dunphy or someone else would like to come in, too.
I think that we can all agree that community learning is of great importance in widening access, but there has been a shift towards encouraging students to take up full-time college places. Is that the best way to improve outcomes for young people from deprived backgrounds and young people with additional support needs? A range of training providers that work with young people who are furthest from the labour market, who often face significant personal challenges in their lives, focus on the softer outcomes of confidence, motivation, self-belief and self-worth, but they also deliver SQA qualifications, and many of those young people progress to college.
Are there too many students who are struggling to maintain full-time college places because they need a bit more preparation before they can sustain a full-time college place?
Meeting of the Parliament
Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 5 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
On a point of order, convener.—[Inaudible.]—I would have voted no.
Meeting of the Parliament
Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 5 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
On a point of order, convener. I do not think that my vote has gone through; I would have voted no.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Racism in Scottish Cricket (Independent Review)
Meeting date: 4 October 2022
Stephanie Callaghan
Not having different sports reinvent the wheel is certainly a good idea.
Lots of local clubs and regions have strong links with their communities, and there is some good work going on there. Are you thinking about ways in which you can tap into that and involve some of those people more? That is probably a question for Gordon Arthur.
