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 1524 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Councillor Robertson, what sight do you have of future funding of ferries for services to the Western Isles? What discussions have you had with Transport Scotland on that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Obviously, that approach would potentially have an impact on our colleagues in North Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute. What is your view? Does that reflect where you see things in the future?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
The challenge is about where the expertise and accountability can lie.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
I think that the minister has been helpful in setting out the specific requirements for the order. Fines going to the consolidated fund is not unusual in such circumstances. The explanation about the attachment of the order to legislation that has already gone through Parliament makes sense. With any new scheme or operation, you need to get your powers in place in advance, and that is what the order does, particularly in relation to what the minister helpfully explained were the concerns that industry had about a grey market. The fact is that SEPA will then have civil penalties and, if we do not pass this order, all we have left is the criminal basis. That explanation was very helpful in explaining that the measure is a response to industry.
The points that Monica Lennon raised—the minister no doubt knows this because she has had correspondence from me and others about the wider DRS—are still issues that need to be addressed to give confidence in six months’ time when the scheme goes live. However, where the specifics of the SSI are concerned, they address industry’s needs and are responsive to its needs because the grey market will harm industry.
The other explanation of the applicability of the similar wider scheme to the rest of the UK, in terms of the packaging, was helpfully set out as well. Like Monica Lennon, I had some queries on points of clarification, and the minister, in response to Monica Lennon’s questions, set out those issues very well. Regardless of our views on deposit return more generally, the order is helpful housekeeping legislation that provides powers to SEPA, as the relevant authority, on civil matters, which is very helpful. The fine levels that were described, namely £300, £600 and £1,000, are helpful in terms of the responsiveness and proportionality that we expect from such a scheme. I do not see any problem in supporting the order.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
It would be helpful to see what that report says before it is published.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Thank you, convener.
Thank you for your comprehensive written submissions. We should also reflect on the fact that we are trying to inform the islands connectivity plan, which is not the ferries plan. It is about connectivity, so a place-based approach may be something that we can try to influence.
I will ask you both the same question but will come to David Hibbert first. What discussions have you had with Transport Scotland or the Scottish Government about the provision of additional funding to support the vessel replacement programme? In your written submission, I was particularly struck by suggestions to use a similar model to the learning estate investment model, where 90 per cent of revenue funding would, over a long period, enable the council to have prudential borrowing for capital. Can you elaborate on that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Yes, it would be helpful to know what discussions there have been with Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government.
I put the same question to you, Councillor Lyall: what discussions has the council had with Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government on the vessel replacement programme?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
So operational management should be local, but capital investment could be more centralised. Is that what you are saying?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Fiona Hyslop
If it is a brief question to which we get brief answers, that would be helpful.
