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 994 contributions
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Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
We would certainly recognise that from the evidence that we have heard.
To what extent do you feel that the commissioner, sitting where it does, will have the right powers? People want to see a resolution, which will very often involve some end point of action. Are there enough powers in relation to exerting pressure on the Government, pushing for changes to policy in the NHS or the important learning that has to happen where there have been issues?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
I will push a little further on that.
Everybody wants to work in a collegiate fashion and ensure that there is encouragement in relation to change and learning lessons. However, that does not always happen; for example, in large organisations, it can often be difficult to get to that end point of a change in process or taking the learning on board. Although I know that “enforce” is not always a word that we like to use, because we want to see that collegiate approach, is there enough ability to enforce? In social care, for example, we would recognise enforcement as happening in the care home sector or other such places. Is there enough power, or any power, to enforce, if that is required?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
We are interested in the appointment process and what alternatives were considered. In evidence from the English commissioner, we heard that the role is a department of Government, which, it was thought, allowed it not to be overlooked. However, the converse of that, with regard to the bill, is the importance of the independence of the role. What is your rationale for choosing that direction?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
There is so much to get into with all of these issues. I am particularly interested in the socioeconomic factors that affect, or create barriers for, many women and girls in sport. Do you see that when people have to access materials or kit? Sport is often played in a very particular way that is geared towards men. Many aspects of life are male-centric and dealt with through a patriarchal structure. Does that add cost barriers to access for some sports?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
This theme is about the intersectionality of the issues that impact on women and girls in sport. Your report covers various areas, but I am interested in LGBTQ+ young women in particular and their access. How do we support those women to feel secure, supported and safe in sport? You have touched on that already, but I wonder whether you want to add anything to that.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
I want to pick up on the previous theme of the discriminatory language that we hear, and the fact that clubs and governing bodies do not always tackle homophobia appropriately. We have seen a lot of focus on that recently. Obviously, that has been more in the male space, and it has been to do with male players in football in particular. However, it is clear that there are issues around homophobic language in women’s football in particular, and there is often stereotyping of women who play football. Did that abuse and that language being a real barrier and clubs and governing bodies maybe not dealing with that appropriately come through in any meaningful way?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
In a previous answer, you touched on the potential for gym classes and sporting activities to come with an element of childcare attached. Do you feel that that is important in creating more flexible options, so that people can work sport into their life?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
Thank you, convener.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
Yes, of course.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Paul O'Kane
I am detecting an openness to consider the matter, as social care and the role of the PSC develop, and that there can be a conversation on that.
