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 3637 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Transvaginal Mesh
Meeting date: 24 October 2023
Sue Webber
I have raised questions about vaginal mesh in the chamber before and have written articles in support of the women affected, and I welcome the chance to speak in the debate. Like many of my fellow MSPs across the chamber, I have constituents who have come to me regarding their post-operative experience of transvaginal mesh surgery and of the circus of on-going referral that continues to this day as they seek help.
I know that there are countless women who had the procedure and benefited greatly from it, with their pelvic organ prolapses being cured or their stress urinary incontinence reversed. However, we cannot ignore the voices of the women who have experienced life-changing complications from the procedure and continue to struggle as a result.
When I look at the motion that the Scottish Government has presented to us, I feel a sense of disappointment and perhaps even a shared sense of bewilderment with the women. The motion appears not to recognise that many women are still unable to access the treatment for which they are desperate.
Whether that treatment be in Glasgow, Missouri or Bristol, many women no longer trust the services that are provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, albeit at the new ambulatory care hospital in south Glasgow. In fact, at the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee in April, 75 women came to share their experiences of the complex mesh surgical service. Women with long-term negative experiences felt that, rightly or wrongly, those views coloured their views of the current west of Scotland services. In fact, things were so bad that it was said that
“trust in the many medical professionals they have encountered”
was
“all but completely depleted”.
A constituent of mine told me that she has been in constant pain since her operation 17 years ago. The plan that the Scottish Government unveiled in July 2020 gave her hope, but she is living proof that the promise has not been fully honoured. She said:
“I find it impossible to trust the NHS to care for me with mesh issues. A life with mesh is a painful, humiliating, and soul-destroying existence and has already destroyed so much of our lives.”
Today’s Scottish Government motion makes no reference to that continuing pain. That is deeply concerning. We hear time and again that the Scottish Government is listening to the women’s views, but I am afraid that the actions taken do not appear to reflect that. The women deserved to get free specialist treatment after many of them were rebuffed by their health authorities.
Our Conservative Party amendment reflects the unnecessarily complex referral pathway that women must endure and the lengthy waits as they ping between services. Evelyn Tweed commented on how the women were moved from pillar to post. As of April 2023, the median wait for referral to the complex mesh surgical service in Glasgow was 236 days and the longest wait was 448 days. Women then need to wait a significant length of time to start treatment that might alleviate or even remove their symptoms. However, I ask members to remember that that does not even include the time that it takes to get an appointment with their health board first.
Our amendment also acknowledges that, to date, there is no clear pathway for women to be referred to an independent external service, whether that be in England or Missouri, should they not want to go to Glasgow. In 2019, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promised that she was absolutely committed and determined to do everything possible to get those women the treatment and care that they needed. However, when he was Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousaf agreed to the principle that the treatment that those women desperately need can be accessed only after approval from the same authorities that were obstructive in the first place.
Neither I nor the women who have contacted me over the years believe that the Scottish Government has done enough to engage with mesh survivors or to help with their heartbreaking plight. The victims must receive the treatment that Mr Yousaf now says that they are entitled to receive for free. Unfortunately, I am not certain that the commercial terms for those external referrals have been arranged on a long-term basis.
The Scottish Conservatives supported the Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill, and we have been supportive since the issue was raised in the Scottish Parliament by public petition. However, the Scottish National Party Government must do more to ensure that women who are affected by mesh can access the services that they need.
17:11Meeting of the Parliament
Health and Social Care (Winter Planning and Resilience)
Meeting date: 24 October 2023
Sue Webber
What action will the cabinet secretary take to stop the on-going deterioration of the workforce situation?
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Sue Webber
On the subject of rail travel, I have been made aware that ScotRail has made provision in its timetable to allow trains between Edinburgh and Dunblane to stop at Winchburgh. When will Winchburgh get its station?
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Sue Webber
The cabinet secretary mentioned building capacity and how it is key to tackling our backlogs, but the national treatment centres are the backbone of that solution. I am concerned that many are behind schedule, and the one that was BMI Carrick Glen hospital will not be open for the foreseeable future. How will we tackle our backlogs when there is such a backlog in producing the capacity?
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 28 September 2023
Sue Webber
To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the use of antidepressants in Scotland. (S6F-02411)
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 28 September 2023
Sue Webber
The number of adults and young people who are prescribed antidepressants has significantly increased over the past 10 years, to more than 1 million. Prescriptions are for a wide range of disorders and illnesses. At the same time, national health service spending on mental health, as a percentage, declined between 2011 and 2022. Does the First Minister accept that there is a clear link between the failure to access mental health services and the subsequent increase in prescriptions? Patients are asking for more than pills. What will ministers do to provide that critical access to mental health services?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny and the Scottish Attainment Challenge
Meeting date: 27 September 2023
Sue Webber
Thank you, cabinet secretary. I am sure that the committee shares the opinion that we are one of the most important committees in the Parliament.
We move to questions from members, starting with Willie Rennie.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny and the Scottish Attainment Challenge
Meeting date: 27 September 2023
Sue Webber
Thank you for that. I call Pam Duncan-Glancy.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 27 September 2023
Sue Webber
That concludes the public part of our meeting. The committee will now move into private session to consider our final agenda item.
10:44 Meeting continued in private until 11:25.Education, Children and Young People Committee
Pre-Budget Scrutiny and the Scottish Attainment Challenge
Meeting date: 27 September 2023
Sue Webber
On the flexible workforce development fund, I am aware that one of the key Government policies is economic growth with a focus on upskilling and reskilling the workforce across our business community. However, through my conversations with Edinburgh College, in my area, I am aware that it has yet to be notified of its allocation of the flexible workforce development fund for this year. That is becoming more common. I hope that we might get some sense that that fund is not going to be withdrawn or reduced but continued, because it is key to promoting economic growth and supporting our small and medium-sized enterprises across the country. Can you comment on that?
