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 1148 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
National Care Service
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
I am really sorry, but I have a lot to get through.
I heard about carers being sent from one end of the local authority area to the other because a manager who did not know the area thought that the trip from Bo’ness to Larbert could be done in 10 minutes, only for the carers to come back to Grangemouth after that. Caring for care workers must be at the heart of the bill. That is why I will lodge amendments to further embed, at the heart of the bill, fair work as part of ethical procurement. I will work with the minister and unions to address concerns.
We know that there is a mixed picture across the country, but social care workers in Falkirk should have the same terms, conditions and working culture as those in Argyll and Bute. For people who receive the care, how they receive it and what they are entitled to should also be the same everywhere. That is a fundamental principle of the national care service and one of the main reasons why we want to see the bill progress.
Culture change must be a key part of any social care reform, and as I said in the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee meeting on Tuesday, culture change does not often come without huge costs attached. I agree with Mr O’Kane—as, I am sure, the minister does—that any of those issues could be tackled now. In the joint working group involving COSLA and the Scottish Government, I would like to see discussion and agreement on ways to do that and to advance it now.
In yesterday’s HSCS Committee meeting, we heard COSLA’s concerns about appointments to care boards being the minister’s decision. Might the minister address that in his closing remarks?
Meeting of the Parliament
National Care Service
Meeting date: 2 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
I am really sorry, but I need to keep going.
We can agree that there are some good things in the bill. We all recognise the importance of Anne’s law. I met campaigners outside Parliament, as did others from across the chamber. The pandemic robbed many people of their last precious hours and days. I want better and consistently offered bereavement support for unpaid carers, as well as support with manual handling and, crucially, the right to short breaks. We need to ensure that that is implemented consistently to ensure that breaks are available, in a way that is useful to them, for people who have multiple caring responsibilities.
In reality, there is too much to cover in four minutes. There are real opportunities through co-design and secondary legislation to be flexible, to listen, to take account and to change things that do not work as anticipated. I recognise the anxiety around the lack of detail, but I look forward to working with carers’ organisations, with people with lived experience and with care workers in order to ensure that the bill delivers on its core aim, which is to make things better and more consistent for people who use the social care system and people who work in it.
16:04Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
Thanks, convener. I apologise to everyone; I have to go to the Parliamentary Bureau in a couple of minutes.
My question is particularly for Councillor Kelly. You referenced geographical variation around delivery, but there is also geographical variation around terms and conditions and working conditions for staff. How would you like that to be strengthened in the bill?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
If there is anything specific going on in councils, it would be really useful for the committee to hear about that.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
I appreciate that. Some of this is absolutely about resource but, as you referenced earlier, it is also about culture, which does not always need pounds behind it. What is being done by COSLA to improve the culture in which people work?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
I appreciate the work that is being done at joint ministerial working group level and all that sort of thing, but what work is being done at COSLA level to make sure that good terms and conditions exist? One thing that is being looked at in the creation of the national care service is making terms and conditions consistent across the country. What is being done in relation to the services that are delivered by local authorities to ensure that terms and conditions and working conditions are consistent across the country? Also, what is being done where services are contracted out by councils? The variations are wild, in some places.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
In its written submission, the Faculty of Advocates raises concerns about use of the word “sufficient” in relation to carers’ breaks. How can that wording be strengthened? Does the faculty have a view on what mechanism would be most appropriate to determine what qualifies as “sufficient”?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Gillian Mackay
Good morning. What are your views on how we can ensure that carers are consulted on whether the breaks that they receive are sufficient, and should a mechanism to support that be included in the bill?
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 October 2022
Gillian Mackay
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the workforce skills that are needed to pursue a transition towards a fossil fuel-free future. (S6O-01466)
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 October 2022
Gillian Mackay
A recent report by Scottish Renewables found that more than 27,000 people in Scotland are directly employed in Scotland’s renewables sector. With fossil fuel supplies likely to be impacted this winter, the need to accelerate the transition to a green future has never been greater.
Will the minister outline what steps the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that the green jobs workforce academy and similar programmes are boosting skills and employment across Scotland, including in my Central Scotland region?
