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 876 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 28 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work on diversity, inclusion and equalities, what recent discussions the Minister for Equalities has had with ministerial colleagues regarding work to tackle Islamophobia. (S6O-04028)
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 28 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
After the events of this summer, it is more important than ever that we work to tackle Islamophobia and hate. The Scottish Government accepted the recommendations of the report on Islamophobia by the cross-party group on challenging racial and religious prejudice. Will the minister advise what progress the Scottish Government is making on implementing the recommendations, which include adopting a definition of Islamophobia and a workplace discrimination toolkit?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
I think that there is a gap, which the Scottish Government recognises. Can it not do anything to fill it?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
Good morning. The Scottish Government has set out its intention to make changes to national park legislation in the proposed natural environment bill. Why is national parks legislation being reviewed, and will the proposed change make any significant difference to how national parks operate?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
Lastly, NatureScot recommended that the Scottish Government produce a draft policy statement on national parks consultation alongside legislative proposals. Does the Scottish Government plan to double up and consult on a national policy statement on national parks?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
I am happy to close the petition, but I think that we should write to the Scottish Government to say, “Look, there’s a gap. What are you guys doing about it?”
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
Will the Parliament be able to consider any legislative changes before or alongside a designation order so that it can scrutinise coherence across the proposals?
Meeting of the Parliament
Miners Strike (40th Anniversary)
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
I do not have time.
To conclude, I join members in remembering workers, communities and women who took action. I remember Mick McGahey, trade unionist and miner, whose ashes are scattered in the foundations of this building. He said that the miners did only one wrong thing in their lives:
“They fought for the right to work”.
We should never stop fighting for working people.
17:56Meeting of the Parliament
Miners Strike (40th Anniversary)
Meeting date: 27 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
I congratulate my colleague Richard Leonard on bringing this debate to the chamber.
I begin my speech by paying tribute to Neil Findlay, who was an MSP for Lothian before me and who campaigned for years to fight the injustices that were inflicted on striking miners.
It is hard to overstate the role of mining in Scottish life and communities such as Newtongrange, Addiewell and Danderhall. The miners gala, attended by thousands, used to finish near this building, in Holyrood Park, and many local people came out to support the miners during the strike. Edinburgh District Council donated £5,000 a month to the striking miners and Edinburgh students passed motions in support of the miners. Those are just a few examples that demonstrate solidarity and community spirit, and we should be proud of that part of our history.
Many of our former mining communities still feel the effects of having their industry ripped out from under them with no replacement or support. Research from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust found that former mining communities are some of the most deprived areas in the country, with higher unemployment, fewer children finishing school and more people out of work and on benefits.
Those communities, where people did their jobs for 150 years, built this country and fuelled our industrial revolution, but they were left behind, and, when those people stood up for themselves, they were demonised, brutalised and mistreated. Among them was one who would go on to become the MP for Midlothian, David Hamilton. At the time, he was an active member of the National Union of Mineworkers, and he was held for two months during the strike before being released and acquitted, with a finding that no crime had been committed.
Many miners who were convicted of non-violent crimes lost their jobs and had their lives ruined. David Hamilton, like Neil Findlay, campaigned for a review of prosecutions made during the strikes in Scotland. Two years ago, following the independent review that took place, I was proud to vote for the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022, which ended that historic injustice, and I am also proud to see the Labour Government in Westminster recently also taking action to rectify an injustice, ensuring that miners will now receive the £1.5 billion that was kept from their pensions, which is a reversal of the Conservative Government’s position and is a recognition of their contribution to our country.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 20 November 2024
Foysol Choudhury
Edinburgh integration joint board officers recently proposed to end grant funding for 64 third sector organisations. Although that was not taken forward, charities still do not have funding beyond March 2025, and the board’s financial deficit remains. Those organisations provide vital services through prevention and early intervention. Is the cabinet secretary considering using the budget to improve the financial situation of integration joint boards, which fund those important services?
