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.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
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.
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.
There are two types of keyword search:
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.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
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:
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.
Displaying 4264 contributions
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
For the fourth time, I accept the decision that Parliament arrived at yesterday. That includes an acknowledgement by Parliament that the process that was undertaken by the committee risks bringing the Parliament into disrepute, and Mr Ross cannot escape what he voted for last night.
That means that Parliament has to consider how it exercises its responsibilities in accordance with the principles of natural justice. That is why I am glad that Parliament agreed last night that the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body should
“initiate an independent review of the Parliament’s complaints process to restore integrity and confidence in the Parliament and its procedures.”
That is what Parliament has decided to do.
I will continue to engage directly with my constituents, who have returned me to this Parliament on six occasions, on a regular basis and to serve them as faithfully as I have always done, and I will extend that to faithfully serving the country of which I have the privilege of being First Minister.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
I remind Douglas Ross that, in 2018, the Conservative group in this Parliament—I appreciate that Mr Ross was not a member of the group at that time, as he had left the Scottish Parliament—voted against sanctions that were applied by the standards committee to one of Mr Ross’s members. So, Mr Ross has absolutely no credibility whatsoever in coming here and suggesting that my conduct or my actions have been in any way inappropriate. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
First, I say to Natalie that I understand entirely the anxiety that she faces, and I am sorry that she has not heard anything since December. If Mr Sarwar, in the aftermath of today’s exchanges, would like to advise me of the details, I will take the issue up, as he will understand I would do.
I say also that patients like Natalie are my focus. I am spending huge amounts of my time as First Minister focusing on the real and legitimate concerns of people in Scotland about our public services. I said to Parliament last week that my priorities would address the challenges in our public services, and that that would be one of the four major themes, along with eradicating child poverty, the transition to net zero and the stimulation of economic growth.
Those reforms and developments, and progression in our public services will be, and are, at the heart of my priorities. That is what the Cabinet was talking about in our meeting this week, and we will continue to do that. I assure Mr Sarwar, and l assure Natalie, that the concerns of people in Scotland about getting access to healthcare treatment when they need it, at the earliest possible opportunity, will be fundamental to the priorities that I take forward on behalf of the people of Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
Since 2021, two significant factors have undermined the public finances in the United Kingdom. The first has been the rampant inflation that has eroded the value of public sector budgets. Although inflation is lower today than it was a year ago, prices are still very much higher because of the effect of double-digit inflation—the first time that we have that in the United Kingdom for over 40 years.
The second thing that has happened is that the cost of investing in and supporting our public services has gone through the roof, because of the mistakes that were made by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng in that ridiculous statement to the House of Commons. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
I was delighted to have the opportunity yesterday, with local members Mr Torrance and my colleague Jenny Gilruth, along with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, to be present at the opening of Levenmouth rail link. It is a wonderful project, which has come about because of tenacious campaigning by the Levenmouth rail campaign, which garnered support on a cross-party basis for a new rail link. It will connect the communities around Leven to the rail network, opening up educational, social and economic opportunities for that community and also opening up that community as a place to visit and a destination on the rail network. It is a superb investment, and I congratulate everyone involved in the Levenmouth rail link.
I would certainly want the investment and resources to be available to ensure that we can undertake other projects of that character around the country, but that will only come if there is a stimulation to capital investment, which is absolutely and desperately required after 14 years of austerity.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
I am absolutely delighted to do so and to pay tribute to the astonishing achievements of all the individuals whom Mr Whittle has mentioned, because they are utterly and totally inspiring.
I have to say to Mr Whittle that they will be a great deal faster than both him and me, if I may say so. They are certainly a great deal faster than I was when running through the centre of Edinburgh at the ungodly hour at which I was running this morning.
I pay warm tribute to them. They are an encouragement to us all to exercise—perhaps not as fast as they are able to exercise and compete—and to take due care of ourselves to ensure our own physical fitness. I am happy to associate myself with Brian Whittle’s comments and to encourage all the athletes in the forthcoming competitions.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 May 2024
John Swinney
There will be essential projects that have to be undertaken to ensure public safety and to guarantee that we have the appropriate level of connectivity in our communities. Obviously, there is a debate to be had about the merits of individual projects, but the Government has an obligation to work with local authorities in a spirit of partnership to agree the infrastructure improvements that are necessary to ensure that we have connectivity in our country.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 23 May 2024
John Swinney
At the outset, I have to make it clear to the Parliament that Michael Matheson is a friend and colleague of mine. He has made mistakes, he has resigned from the Cabinet, and he has paid the roaming costs in question—there has been no cost to the public purse.
However, as I consider the findings from the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, I have a significant concern. I believe that the process has been prejudiced. Let me explain why.
Both Stephen Kerr and Annie Wells made comments about the case, long before it came to the committee, which prejudged it. Stephen Kerr had the good grace to admit that he
“couldn’t meet the committee requirement to be unbiased”,
so he removed himself from the committee. He was replaced by Oliver Mundell, who has made no public comment on the case. I have no issue with Mr Mundell’s participation in the inquiry.
However, Annie Wells has made public comments. On 27 November, Annie Wells said that Michael Matheson’s
“desperate efforts to justify his outrageous expenses claim have been riddled with lies, cover-ups and the need for us all to suspend our disbelief.”
If a constituent came to me and said that they were about to face a disciplinary panel at work, and one of the panel members had made prejudicial comments about them, I would come down on that employer like a ton of bricks. That is the situation that Michael Matheson faces here, and that is why I will not support the sanction.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 23 May 2024
John Swinney
In answer to Mr Ross’s last specific question, before I became First Minister, I drew the issues about the comments from Stephen Kerr and Annie Wells to the attention of the convener of the Standards, Public Appointments and Procedures Committee, which I thought was important for me to do as a senior, long-serving member of Parliament, because I am interested in the integrity of this Parliament.
Unfortunately, the integrity of the Parliament has been brought into question—[Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 23 May 2024
John Swinney
I do not think that anybody could look at me and think that I am not an individual who cares deeply about the reputation and integrity of this Parliament. I have been in this Parliament—[Interruption.] I have been in this Parliament for 25 years, since its foundation, and it has been the privilege of my life to serve here. I am the only member of this Parliament who voted for its establishment when the Scotland Act 1998 was put to the House of Commons. I care deeply about the reputation, integrity and identity of this Parliament, which is why I think that there is the risk that deep damage will be done to its reputation if the issue—[Interruption.]