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 2698 contributions
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Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
That would be good, but would we not get full assurance if a proper investigation were to be done into the decision making on the contract?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
A full investigation would bring all those things together; it would show what has happened and what has gone wrong, and it would show the lessons learned and improvements that have been made so that the committee can be assured that everything is well.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
We appreciate your coming to the committee, of course. However, from our point of view, Leslie Evans was still employed and had relevant experience from which the committee could have learned, but she did not come.
We talk about openness and transparency, but there are missing records from Ferguson’s, questions about guarantees and legalities at Lochaber, Leslie Evans refusing to come to the committee, and the Scottish Information Commissioner ruling that the Scottish Government is withholding legal information that it could provide. Do you accept that there is a perception that, when it comes to openness and transparency, something is wrong that needs to be fixed quickly?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
Thank you.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Scottish Fiscal Commission (Appointments)
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
From what you have read so far, what do you think are the key challenges that the Scottish economy faces at present?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
I will be quick, because of the time. On the missing records related to the Ferguson Marine contract, how can we be assured that lessons have been learned and improvements made when it comes to record keeping and recording decisions correctly?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
I will move on. I have another question about Leslie Evans. She retired at the end of the year, but was paid until the end of March. Is that correct?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Public Administration in the Scottish Government
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
It is my understanding that she was paid until the end of March. Is that correct? I am only trying to get my head around what she was doing that meant that she could not appear before the committee, because she was still an employee.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
We all should and could work together on the bill. From the consultation, it is clear that the public supports changes to the legislation. However, the way in which the devolved SNP Government is going about its business is a disgrace. Suspending standing orders to rush the debate through shows complete contempt for the Parliament. The standing orders are in place to ensure good governance and to allow us to follow a proper process. Maybe the minister will take the opportunity, when summing up, to apologise to civil servants who had to work over a bank holiday weekend to prepare reports and so on in order to rush things through for absolutely no apparent reason.
There are many potential unintended consequences of the bill, many of which are discussed in the committee’s report, and that is why it should not be rushed. Rushed legislation will lead to bad legislation, and that will take up more time in the long run. The Government needs to take the time that it needs to get it right first time, because the bill has more holes than a sieve.
However, I point out that we agree on so much. Every year, our communities are blighted by antisocial behaviour with regard to fireworks. The greatest impact is probably on our much-loved pets and animals; I see many reports in the local press and on social media about the impact that fireworks can have and the distress that they can cause. It is right that the Government takes action to curb the use of fireworks and to regulate their sale more effectively, but it is not right to overturn the parliamentary process in order to do so.?
It is clear that the public supports restrictions on the sale of fireworks, with 94 per cent of those who responded to the consultation agreeing on more controls over their sale. Many called for a full ban, but I feel that more consultation with retailers and suppliers would have to happen before legislation went any further.
One constituent in my North East Scotland region, Norman Donald, who is the owner of NJE Fireworks Displays, said:
“There’s nothing in the Bill that addresses the misuse of fireworks ... All it is doing is punishing businesses, putting them out of business, and punishing law abiding citizens who’ve enjoyed fireworks in their gardens for years.”
He went on to say:
“If the public can only buy them for that length of time”—
as specified in the bill—
“then it’s going to encourage hoarding and stockpiling which is going to be very, very dangerous.”
The Government must act on the storage of fireworks to prevent that potentially dangerous practice.
Mr Donald also raised legitimate concerns that the use of illegal and unsafe fireworks may become more widespread, which could have a devastating impact.
We need a measured approach in the legislation to ensure that we tackle antisocial behaviour while protecting the livelihoods of those who depend on the industry. That includes people such as Norman Donald, who has been professionally involved in the industry for his whole life, with his business providing a livelihood for him and his family. That cannot simply be taken away from him with no compensation at all.
There has not been nearly enough time between the committee report on the bill and the stage 1 debate to allow us to consider the implications. To legislate in haste will mean repenting at leisure, and businesses will face the brunt of this rushed legislation. The timetable was also condemned by the committee, which concluded:
“This Bill is being scrutinised to an expedited timetable, to meet the Scottish Government’s wish that it be passed before summer recess only in order to bring in the provisions on proxy purchasing and prohibiting the possession of certain pyrotechnic articles in advance of November 2022. The lack of detail, data and evidence has hindered our ability to fully scrutinise some of the key proposals and we therefore have substantive reservations about their workability and effectiveness.”?
That is not the Opposition speaking, but the committee itself.
The bill is rushed, and I ask the Scottish Government to reconsider the timetable to ensure that we get it right for everyone, including events companies, producers, the public and anyone who enjoys fireworks, as well as animal welfare people and our pets.?
We are willing to work with the Government on the issue, but not in this rushed way. In order to develop proposals that work and that we would all wish to support, I ask the minister again today if the Government will withdraw the bill at this time, allow the adequate time that is required for parliamentary scrutiny and meet with Opposition parties to discuss a way forward on which we can all agree.
16:18Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 3 May 2022
Douglas Lumsden
Will the minister explain a bit more about compensation? Will that recur annually or will it be a one-off payment?
