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 1537 contributions
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Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Katy Clark
What is your projection around the percentage?
Criminal Justice Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Katy Clark
Thank you.
Meeting of the Parliament
Bairns’ Hoose
Meeting date: 13 September 2023
Katy Clark
I congratulate Rona Mackay on securing this important debate and warmly welcome her initiative, which has led to this issue being debated in the chamber today. I also want to place on record my thanks to Victim Support Scotland, Children 1st and the other organisations that have been involved in the opening of Scotland’s first bairns’ hoose.
As Rona Mackay has already mentioned in the debate, the bairns’ hoose model is based on Iceland’s renowned model, and seeks to bring the needs of child victims and witnesses together with justice, health, social work and recovery support services at a single point of contact.
As an MSP for the West Scotland region, I, like Rona Mackay, am pleased that the first bairns’ hoose will be supporting child victims and witnesses in East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire. However, it is crucial that all eligible children are able to access such facilities, so that they can have access to the trauma-informed support that the model provides. I look forward to seeing how the bairns’ hoose develops and to hearing about its effect on outcomes. I would be grateful if the minister could today provide an update, and commit to future parliamentary updates, on the progress that is being made towards widening access to such facilities and other initiatives that enable child victims and witnesses to access trauma-informed practices.
Ahead of today’s debate, Victim Support Scotland reiterated its concern that some local authorities may choose to use the bairns’ hoose as a place of safety for a child who has caused harm. If that were the case, it could increase the risk of retraumatising victims and witnesses, including child victims, undermining the very purpose of the bairns’ hoose as a service. Therefore, I would be grateful if the minister could respond to the concerns that are being raised and address the reason why Victim Support Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to guarantee that no bairns’ hoose in Scotland will be used as a place of safety under the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019. I hope that the minister will give that guarantee today and outline how the Scottish Government will establish the trauma-informed support service that is required for children who have caused harm but also ensure that the needs of other victims are addressed.
The bairns’ hoose is a key part of improving the experiences of child victims and witnesses in Scotland’s justice system, but we all recognise that it is not the sole solution to the problem. That is why many stakeholders have raised concerns about the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill that is being scrutinised by Parliament. The concern is that the bill lacks provision to ensure that support and information are in place for victims who have been harmed by children and that it could create an imbalance between the rights of the child who has caused harm and the rights of the child victim. There also issues in the bill with regard to the lack of information-sharing provisions and the lack of safety planning and risk management measures.
As the minister will know, a number of stakeholders, including Victim Support Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland and Women’s Aid, have come together to suggest a number of changes to the bill. I urge the Scottish Government, in responding to the debate, to seriously consider what is being said and ensure that the legislation truly delivers an improved experience for child victims and witnesses in Scotland.
The bairns’ hoose alone will not transform the experience of child victims and witnesses in Scotland, but it is a very important development that I warmly welcome. For that reason, I associate myself with Rona Mackay’s words and those of all the other members who have spoken in the debate and again congratulate all those who have been involved in the opening of Scotland’s first bairns’ hoose.
17:43Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 6 September 2023
Katy Clark
The chief executive of Scottish Water has been awarded a pay rise that unions have highlighted as being £50,000 above the Scottish Government’s current policy on public sector pay, while lower-paid staff are in dispute over their wages. Will the cabinet secretary listen to unions that are calling for a review of public sector pay policy, including excessive executive pay at the top?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Disability Benefit Processing Times
Meeting date: 29 June 2023
Katy Clark
It would be very much appreciated if you could keep us closely advised. Thank you.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Disability Benefit Processing Times
Meeting date: 29 June 2023
Katy Clark
I am just a little bit concerned by what you are saying and I wonder whether there is appreciation in the agency of how important it is for people to get money quickly. I very much welcome what you are saying about evidence that claimants are finding that the agency is treating them with more kindness and respect. If that is the case, that is a massive advance on where we were in the past.
As you know, however, the reality is that the reason why most people are claiming benefits is that they are in financial difficulties. Some people are in extreme financial difficulties, such that they cannot heat or eat. Can you reassure the committee that you understand the client group that you are dealing with, the importance of ensuring that cases are processed quickly and that people receive money quickly, for the reasons that I have given?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Disability Benefit Processing Times
Meeting date: 29 June 2023
Katy Clark
Can you indicate when you think processing times might start to come down for the child disability payment?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Disability Benefit Processing Times
Meeting date: 29 June 2023
Katy Clark
Thank you. Will you keep the committee advised about progress on that and whether there are specific problems? If you could proactively share that with us, that would be very helpful.
You will have seen that there has been a lot of publicity around the personal independence payment and the fact that decisions on it are currently being made more quickly than decisions on adult disability payments. Do you expect the gap to narrow over time, or do elements of the adult disability payment decision-making process mean that it is likely often to be lengthier than the process for decisions on the personal independence payment?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Disability Benefit Processing Times
Meeting date: 29 June 2023
Katy Clark
That is helpful to have on the record. Thank you.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Disability Benefit Processing Times
Meeting date: 29 June 2023
Katy Clark
I do not see it as being a comparator either, but claimants have said to me that their experiences with Social Security Scotland are worse than those that they had with DWP. They have also said that they did not believe that that could be possible. Do you agree that we need to ensure that we have the highest standards and the quickest processing times, and that the expectation is that the process will be better than it was with DWP? If DWP’s processes are getting better, I very much welcome that. How quickly can we expect better processing times for the adult disability payment?
