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: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
The issue will not be with CalMac, because it will have to follow the regulatory regime that is put in place by the animal health regulator. If that situation has transpired, I welcome it. I am very familiar with the strength of the agricultural community in our islands. Indeed, on Monday, Mr Fairlie and I were involved in discussions with the agricultural community in the highland Perthshire area, and representatives from Orkney travelled down to take part in one of the other round-table discussions that I was involved in this week.
I want to make sure that we can support our island agricultural communities. I will explore whether we need to make any further advice available but, if the situation that Mr Eagle has put to me has arisen, I am pleased to welcome that.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
The HPV vaccination programme has achieved great success in Scotland. Since the programme started offering immunisation to girls aged 12 to 13 in schools, research has shown that no cervical cancer cases have been detected in women who have been fully vaccinated as part of the programme. It is a remarkable achievement by the programme.
The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland and the cervical cancer elimination expert group to ensure that our measures to eliminate the diseases that are caused by HPV are available to all and effective for all, with the aim of eliminating cervical cancer. This year’s vaccination programme is under way. I strongly encourage parents to give their consent and ensure that young people receive the protection that is offered by the vaccine.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
That is exactly what patients in Scotland have. [Interruption.]
On the national health service, I will tell it as it is. That is why the health secretary and I spent a large amount of time on Wednesday with a whole range of stakeholders from across the health sector, who will be crucial in helping us to support the national health service to navigate its way through the challenges that we face because of an ageing population and a significant increase in demand. That is what the health secretary and I are focused on. That is what we are doing this week, and that is what we will be doing henceforward.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
On the basis of that fact, I judge that Neil Gray, in taking the action that he has taken, has acted entirely appropriately in his responsibilities to Parliament and in accordance with the ministerial code. Of course, it is up to the independent advisers whom I have appointed to take a different view from the one that I have taken—I will be inviting my independent advisers to consider the view that I have taken, and they will be free to take that decision. That is why I have strengthened the ministerial code, it is why I have strengthened the independent advisers and it is why I have appointed three individuals of eminent reputation to make sure that they can scrutinise these questions.
Fundamentally, what matters to the people of Scotland today is that they have a Government that is focused on the concerns of the people, on making sure that we strengthen the national health service—[Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
I do not think that Jackie Baillie wants to hear that she is giving factual inaccuracies to the Parliament today. I do not think that she is interested in hearing that. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
I am alert to the dangers of tariffs and to the damage that they can cause, and we are closely engaging with the fact that President Trump has asked the US Secretary of Commerce to investigate the US’s annual trade deficit and its economic and security implications.
It is important to note that no new tariffs have been established. We do not believe that tariffs are the answer, and we urge all parties with an interest in the export of Scottish goods to come together to work towards a mutually beneficial resolution.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
John Swinney
Jackie Baillie said that every week it gets worse. That is not true. [Interruption.] I am getting lectured about the importance of accuracy in what we say in the Parliament, so Jackie Baillie better listen to what I am going to say to her about her statement. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 16 January 2025
John Swinney
One key point that I have tried to stress in all my answers to Parliament on this question is the importance of ensuring that I address as they are the circumstances that we face in our hospital system. That is one reason why I went to the emergency department at Edinburgh royal infirmary on 4 January to see with my own eyes the pressure that was being recounted to me by health service leaders over a number of weeks when I was engaged in trying to address the situation.
I think that, throughout the United Kingdom, ministers all accept the pressures that are on the national health service because of winter circumstances. I have recounted to Parliament the enormous increase in flu cases and I will put those numbers on the parliamentary record. Hospital admissions almost doubled from 708 in the week ending 15 December to 1,382 in the week ending 22 December, and they increased further to 1,596 in the week ending 29 December, which is when the RCN survey was undertaken.
I acknowledge the reality of the pressures—the intense pressures—on the national health service. We have increased staff and consultant numbers and have expanded the capacity of NHS 24, as a review of urgent care called on us to do back in 2020. The Government will continue taking all the necessary steps to ensure that our staff are as well supported as they can be in dealing with the intense pressures that prevail within the national health service in winter.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 16 January 2025
John Swinney
First, I thank Mr Mountain for his commendation of the steps that the Government is taking on bowel screening. The bowel screening programme is an excellent programme. It is very convenient for members of the public and it is very efficient. It is also very important for the management of individuals’ health. I am grateful for Mr Mountain’s comments in that respect.
I will consider all the points that Mr Mountain has put to me about the bowel screening programme and will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to advise me on those points. It is important that we take all practical steps to act in accordance with the clinical advice that is available to us. Mr Mountain and I are probably in the same place on respecting that clinical advice, but if there are specific mechanisms that we can deploy that will make a difference, I will be happy to consider them.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 16 January 2025
John Swinney
Jackie Baillie has raised an important issue. I reassure her that the Government is absolutely committed to that endeavour. We are treating more cancer patients on time, within both standards, than we did 10 years ago: 12 per cent more within the 31-day standard and 6 per cent more within the 62-day standard. The median wait for treatment within the 31-day standard is just four days. Ms Baillie’s point about rapidity is absolutely well made, and the Government is working hard to deliver that aim.
My principal answer to Jackie Baillie is that our focus is on developing rapid cancer diagnostic services, which are critical to ensuring that the earliest possible action and intervention happen to address the circumstances that she has put to me. That will remain the focus of the Government’s intervention in that area of policy.
