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 [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
The events of the past few weeks and months demonstrate that Angela Constance has set out to the Parliament the position of the Government. Where there has been a necessity for further information to be provided, she has done exactly that. The justice secretary spent the best part of two hours yesterday at the Education, Children and Young People Committee explaining all those issues and addressing the very issues that Mr Findlay puts to me this morning.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
As I said in my earlier answer, the Government is increasing the investment that is available for housing. One of the things that we have taken forward has been to invest more money in supporting the transfer of properties from being void to being in use as accommodation. In the previous financial year, we put £40 million into that effort, and this year, we have doubled that to £80 million. In 2024-25 alone, 2,066 houses were taken out of being void properties and put into use as houses that families in those circumstances can use.
We can see from the data that was published earlier this week that the increased budget that the Government is putting in place has led to a 61 per cent increase in the past quarter in the number of approvals for affordable housing, which has resulted in an 18 per cent increase in the number of starts in the July to September period. The investment that the Government has put in place is now having an effect and boosting those numbers. Fundamentally, we have been building more houses per head of population in Scotland than has been the case in other parts of the United Kingdom, while we wrestle with the public finance challenges that we all face.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
The collapse of the Spey viaduct is a sad loss. Not only did it hold significant heritage value; it is a key feature for those using the national cycle network or travelling the Moray coastal route.
The viaduct is, of course, owned by Moray Council, and it will ultimately be for the council to lead on the next steps. It will need time to work through its options, including consulting and engaging with local communities, as it always does, but, for our part, the Government is more than happy to be part of those discussions.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
We are clear that all children and young people should receive the support that they need to thrive in their education. Support comes from all staff, not only from additional support needs specialists. As a direct result of investment from the Scottish Government, we have been able to increase the number of staff in our schools and not just the number of teachers. Educational psychologists, family liaison workers and additional support needs staff have been supported through additional investment from the Scottish Government, which includes an additional £29 million this year specifically to support the additional support needs workforce.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I will tell Mr Sarwar what is shameful and embarrassing: it is him coming to the Parliament every day moaning about things when he is not prepared to vote for a budget that will increase investment in our public services. That is what is shameful and embarrassing. Mr Sarwar should think twice about that.
Mr Sarwar wants to raise my record on supporting children in Scotland. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills was on her feet in the Parliament on Tuesday setting out the record levels of literacy and numeracy in our schools. Attendance is rising, teacher numbers are rising, and the attainment gap is further narrowing in Scotland. I am proud of the fact that, on my watch, child poverty in Scotland is falling and is at the lowest level in 30 years. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
The Scottish Government values our fish processing sector and is committed to a sustainable and prosperous seafood industry. Due to the exceptional fish quota cuts for mackerel, the Scottish Government will act. Today, we have announced that fishing licences will change for 2026, so that Scottish vessels must land 70 per cent of their mackerel and 70 per cent of their herring into Scotland. That will take effect from 1 January 2026 and will help to protect jobs in our fish processing sector and wider supply chains during this challenging period, and provide stability and position the sector well for when stocks recover. Those measures will apply for 2026 and will be kept under review.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I am very sympathetic to the circumstances that Monica Lennon sets out to me. I represent constituents and members of the public and, over my years as a parliamentarian, I have represented many constituents who have tried to secure additional support needs provision for their children. Parents want to do the best for their children and ensure that the education system meets their needs, which is why the Government has put £29 million of additional investment in the budget. I am sorry to raise this while discussing a sensitive issue, but Monica Lennon never voted for that. Monica Lennon sat on her hands. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I am very familiar with the viaduct. Many details about it have been shared with me by my colleague Richard Lochhead when he has made representations on behalf of his constituents, and I discussed the viaduct with Mr Lochhead and his colleague Laura Mitchell just yesterday. It is an important structure and connection, and I very much welcome the local interest. I am happy for ministers to engage in dialogue about the issue, which will ensure that the public can enjoy the magnificent outdoors of the Moray countryside.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
SEPA has to exercise the statutory responsibilities that the Parliament has placed on it. It is important that SEPA deploys those statutory responsibilities in a proportionate manner, with the gathering of the appropriate evidence to inform its conclusions.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
The Government has made clear that we will identify opportunities from the on-going work at Grangemouth. As we saw from last week’s announcements, significant numbers of new jobs are coming from the investments that have been made, and I welcome the announcement that was made yesterday by Ineos and the United Kingdom Government. The exercise that we have carried out at Grangemouth has demonstrated a range of different business possibilities that can lead to new employment, some of which are now being progressed and have been announced. That learning will be applied to Mossmorran to provide the vital support that is necessary for its workforce. I appreciate that those workers will be having an extremely anxious time as a consequence of the announcement by ExxonMobil. I reassure Mr Greer that the learning and experience from Grangemouth are being applied at the industrial site at Mossmorran in similar circumstances.
