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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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25
Meeting date: 19 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
I will bring in Pam Gosal.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25
Meeting date: 19 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
For our second panel we are joined in the room by Martin Booth, who is the executive director of finance at Glasgow City Council, and Paul Manning, who is the executive director of finance and corporate resources and deputy chief executive officer at South Lanarkshire Council. We are also joined online by Robert Emmott, who is executive director of corporate services at Dundee City Council. I welcome you all to the meeting.
We turn to questions from members. As previously, we will try to direct questions to a specific witness where possible, but if you would like to come in, please indicate as much to the clerks. Robert, as you are appearing virtually, please type an R into the chat function. There is also no need to operate your microphones, as we will be doing that for you automatically. Sometimes there is a bit of a pause before the microphone comes on, but we are aware of that.
I will begin with the same general question that I asked the previous panel—and I will direct it to you first, Martin, as you know it is coming. I am interested in hearing you highlight what you believe to be the main challenge for the local government workforce at the moment.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
Minister, you have talked throughout the session, and just now, about the fact that this measure is part of a package of 99 measures. I do not know whether you are bringing forward, or have agreed to, all of them; that is not the point of my question. You have also talked about the relationships that you have had with land managers and professionals and practitioners on the ground in going to meet with them and discuss the issues.
It may be challenging for the committee, because we are looking at just a few of the measures in the package that you are talking about. When you go to talk to those practitioners and land managers, are you discussing those pieces as part of the whole package? Do the practitioners and the land managers understand that there are a number of measures that are going to come through over time, and do they see those bits as part of the whole, which we are perhaps not seeing?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Bracken Control
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
Can you explain to some degree what endocrine disruptors do?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
I would like to raise some points against the motion to annul. We have heard this morning that, currently, 48 per cent of the male deer that are culled are shot out of season and that the minister is bringing forward regulation that will remove the administrative burden on NatureScot and Forestry and Land Scotland. I have heard from Scottish Environment LINK, which is a body that is comprised of many environmental organisations in Scotland. It states:
“we fully support all 91 recommendations of the Independent Deer Working Group accepted by Scottish Government including the removal of close seasons for male deer.”
It goes on to say:
“There is no scientific basis for maintaining close seasons for male deer. Nor is there any historical tradition for the arrangement, which was introduced by the UK Government in the 1960s at a time when the red deer population was less than half its current size. Even then, there was opposition from the ... Deer Commission based in Scotland, which expressed concern about rising deer numbers. Deer damage to habitats does not cease during close seasons.
This measure does not actually oblige any landowner to cull male deer all year round.”
Scottish Environment LINK also refers to removing
“excessive bureaucracy, time, and cost to the public purse”,
which is important.
We have also heard this morning that the land managers and the practitioners who are involved are professional and that they care about animal welfare, and I trust that they will carry out the work in that light. We must remember that, currently, 48 per cent of the male deer that are culled are shot out of season. I trust that, after removing the bureaucratic burden and the burden on the public purse, those professionals will continue to carry out that work in that way.
Rather than listen to anecdotal evidence on animal welfare issues, we must listen to the evidence and advice given by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, the SSPCA and OneKind, as they are independent and are all experts in the matter.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Bracken Control
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
I might be mixing two things together but, if such work is done, will there be research on the evidence gaps for water that is not being tested?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
Have the concerns around animal welfare been looked into?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Bracken Control
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
That was one thing that I wanted to clarify.
The reason why the Health and Safety Executive has raised the issue—it is probably why the chemical is not authorised and why it can be used only under an emergency application—is that the chemical is an endocrine disruptor. Is that correct?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Bracken Control
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
Who do the land managers who wish to use Asulox apply to? Is it NatureScot?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Ariane Burgess
It was great to hear the context from which the instrument arose and the work of the deer working group, which was set up due to the concern about the levels of damage to public interests caused by wild deer. Those public interests include a healthy environment with flourishing biodiversity and woodlands that can capture our excess carbon emissions. Minister, to what extent is increased deer control important for our natural regeneration?
