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 1640 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
Obviously, campaigners want to campaign—that is what they do. On the idea that the guidance is six years out of date, Monica, I think that you are perhaps stretching things. The legislation was passed by this Parliament—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
No, there was not. The legislation that enabled franchising was passed by the Parliament in 2019, which was good. The statutory instruments that are required to put everything else in place have come through this Parliament and are already delivered. That is a good thing. With regard to the choices that are available to local authorities and regional transport partnerships, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, in particular, has done the work. At the last regional transport partnership meeting, I had a presentation from SPT on what it is proposing. It has agreement from all the local authorities, which is a strong position to be in, but it has to do that in a way that is robust and does not leave it in the situation that has happened elsewhere of there being a legal challenge from private operators that do not want to co-operate. That is a very real risk, and SPT is very conscious of what it needs to do. You and campaigners are criticising Strathclyde Partnership for Transport mistakenly when it has actually produced what people want it to produce, namely a blueprint to take things forward.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
As you said, SPT has not come up with what it anticipates the figure will be and what it will be able to publish with ministers. That will be part of its engagement, but it has to be a decision that is owned by the regional transport partnership, which is made up of all the local authorities in the Strathclyde area. It would have to look at the costings, and it is not there yet. That is how I would describe the situation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
I do not have any bus officials with me, because we thought that we were going to go into other areas and that we would be finished by now—I know that the committee might still want to go into other areas.
I have not had those discussions with SPT, and I lead on the budget areas. Unless and until we have a business plan, or even an ask, it is very difficult to say—it is all hypothetical. SPT cannot have those discussions until it has come up with its own costed plans.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
The report from CMAL—which is negotiating on our behalf, as the appropriate body to do so—is that the discussion on the heads of terms is well advanced. Clearly, some of the property—that is, the assets—has not been the subject of any transactions since the 19th century, and when it comes to the final agreement we want to ensure that the detail of that is all provided for. I think that Peel Ports would reflect that the process needs to be done properly and negotiated in a way that delivers a good contract. That is what we are proposing.
Why is that important? It is important, because there is a limit to what the Scottish Government can invest in any private organisation. The limit is about £60 million—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
I have been making sure that, in the meantime, it has been working. The parties have worked together in a constructive way, as has been identified by those who work with that tripartite combination. The joint working between CMAL, CalMac and Transport Scotland officials on the in-person consultations and those organisations all coming together with one voice is really important.
It has been a busy year for ferries, not least given the commissioning and procurement of almost a third of the fleet. CalMac, as I have recognised, now has a direct award. A lot of work by Transport Scotland colleagues and CalMac was involved in producing that.
I have always said that I would be open to a change in governance arrangements. Had such a change happened during the two years since I came into post, it would have disrupted a really important period of intense work with everyone. I was a member of the committee when it took extensive evidence for the ferries inquiry. I remember Monica Lennon and I going on a very informative visit to the Western Isles together, which was before you joined the committee.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
CMAL’s function is absolutely essential. I am open to considering whether its governance arrangements could be handled by bringing different bodies together. Now that we have a direct award for at least one of the partners, we are in a position to more readily consider what we might want to do going forward. I am not closing off that option. Now might be a more appropriate time than any point over the past two years to look at that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
I do not want to go into too much detail, but I think that the situation has improved. That does not mean that there is not an issue, and I am very conscious that you have to look at it. If you are testing whether I am aware of the different things that matter for any future arrangement, including pensions, the answer is yes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
The consultation is closed. There are a great deal of responses, so we are having—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
On the basis that it will require regulations, and on the basis that your committee is extremely busy, I do not think that we will necessarily have time to do what we would need to do. However, when I receive the responses to the consultation, I want to ensure that I can take a view and inform the incoming Government as to what it might want to do.
I cannot give you a definitive timescale, but I am conscious that, to give effect to some of those aspects, it will require legislation.
