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 4938 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
I understand the significance of the issue, but it is exclusively a matter for the local authority.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
I do not know why I am being shouted at by the member, who is saying that it is not. Perhaps I have to explain it, but education provision in Scotland is delivered by local authorities, and Argyll and Bute Council is the authority that is consulting on the school. Tim Eagle and his colleagues regularly accuse the Government of centralising power in this country. I am simply pointing out that the issue that he is complaining about is a matter for Argyll and Bute Council to consult on.
On the question of consultation, I think that there should, of course, be adequate community consultation—[Interruption.] I am not quite sure why I am being shouted at by Rachael Hamilton. I am simply saying that I would advise and encourage Argyll and Bute Council to engage in consultation with the community to come to an agreed position. These are, of course, difficult issues and councils should engage properly with their communities.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
I am and always have been a great supporter of the Borders railway, but I do not remember that always being the position of the Conservatives—or, perhaps, not that of all the Conservatives. I will again defer to my dear friend Christine Grahame, but I seem to remember that chap John Lamont not being that supportive of the Borders railway.
On a serious note, the Borders railway has been an absolutely unparalleled success. It has improved connectivity and is a great addition to the Borders. I totally understand the aspiration to extend the railway to cover other communities in the Borders and I am glad that that funding has been released to enable that to be explored.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
This issue is the subject of a consultation that closed on 26 January. There are a wide range of views on the topic, and ministers will consider them and decide on the way forward. We will consider all the responses to the consultation and will publish an analysis in due course. At that point, we will set out the steps that we will take to address the issues that are the subject of the consultation.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
I share Mr Whittle’s concern about the sustainability of farming as a consequence of the inheritance tax changes. I have made that comment publicly before.
The Government has put in place a financial settlement of more than £600 million for the farming sector, which was allocated in the budget process that—I gently remind Mr Whittle—he was unable to support on Tuesday. We are putting financial support in place for the farming industry. The Government fulfils its commitments to farmers.
I have seen the news reports that Mr Whittle referred to, and I am concerned about the implications for the individual farmer. Schmallenberg virus is non-notifiable in the UK and the European Union, which means that there is no requirement for farmers to report suspicion of the disease, because there are no control measures that the Government could take to prevent or eradicate the disease.
I will return to my earlier point. I represent a large rural constituency, and I know that the farming community takes incredibly seriously reporting to the relevant agencies any concerns that it has. As a consequence of that vigilance, we have managed to stop outbreaks of dangerous and damaging conditions circulating, and we will continue to do so in the period ahead.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
I recognise the importance of the employment in the East Kilbride constituency of my colleague Colette Stevenson that is provided by the FCDO. There are outstanding plans to change the location of those employees’ jobs, and I understand the concern that that is to the local member. If there are any representations that she wishes the Government to make, we will happily do so on her behalf.
Meeting of the Parliament
Correction
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
John Swinney has identified an error in his contribution and provided the following correction.
At col 18, paragraph 1—
Original text—
This Government has put money in place to support improvement in the lives of young people living in poverty through the Scottish child payment—originally, it was set at £5 for every eligible child; now, it is £26.70—which is helping to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.
Corrected text—
This Government has put money in place to support improvement in the lives of young people living in poverty through the Scottish child payment—originally, it was set at £5 for every eligible child; now, it is £26.70—which it is estimated is helping to keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty in 2024-25.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
I will look at the issue. Various colleagues have raised it before, and I understand the concern caused to the families of those who are affected. I will explore the issues and determine whether the Government can take further action.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
No, I do not think that it is. There has been legislative change, which was absolutely the right thing to do, to stop the incarceration of young people in Polmont so that they cannot be accommodated in prison. That has put more strain on the secure accommodation system.
The Cabinet is actively discussing what measures the Government needs to take to boost the scale and capacity of the secure estate to ensure that the type of capacity that was available when young people were incarcerated in Polmont can be available in the secure estate. We must be able to provide appropriate accommodation for young people when such judgments have been made. That work is actively under way at present.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 February 2025
John Swinney
CalMac faces an incredibly congested set of circumstances as a consequence of issues in the ferry fleet, which Mr Gibson has narrated. CalMac has undertaken planning to ensure that routes can be serviced and essential services delivered. The situation will be kept under constant review to ensure that there is adequate support for lifeline services.
New vessels are scheduled to be delivered. The Glen Sannox is now in operation. Four other vessels that are due to join the fleet are being constructed at the Cemre yard and the Glen Rosa is also due to join the fleet.
The assurance that I can give Mr Gibson is that the expansion and modernisation of capacity is under way. He will also be aware that the Cabinet Secretary for Transport has made a significant intervention to ensure the sustainability of routes out of Ardrossan in the years to come.
