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 4204 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
He is playing about with politics, has no constructive solutions to bring forward for Scotland and is part of a party that has damaged the wellbeing of the people of Scotland by austerity.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
Endometriosis is a chronic and painful condition that can have an enormous impact on the health and wellbeing of women who are affected. That is why endometriosis is a priority in our women’s health plan.
March is endometriosis awareness month, and we are taking action to raise awareness of the condition and its symptoms and to help women to find information and support. Earlier this month, we lit Government buildings in yellow in recognition of endometriosis awareness month, and we have produced a social media toolkit to help others to raise awareness. We have also provided educational resources for those who work in primary care to improve understanding and to support earlier diagnosis, which I know is a critical issue for those who live with the condition.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
What I would say to Mr Peteranna—whom I have met on many occasions and for whom I have great respect—is that the Scottish Government is investing in the ferry network. We have commissioned the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa from Ferguson’s. We have four large vessels coming from the Cemre yard in Turkey and seven small vessels have been procured by the Government.
When the Government came in to office in 2007, the 2006-07 expenditure on ferries in Scotland was £90 million. In the forthcoming budget, which Mr Sarwar did not support, the expenditure will be £530 million—a 23 per cent increase in funding levels on last year. [Interruption.]
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I am very pleased to welcome the appointment of Graeme Thomson as the new chief executive of Ferguson Marine. He will take up that post on 1 May.
The Government is taking all the steps that Mr McMillan has put to me about making sure that we strengthen the yard. The yard has been part of a competitive tendering process and, within that, it has put forward a credible bid that indicates the strength of the yard. The Government is supporting that with a further £14.2 million of investment to strengthen the yard, and is also working with the yard to ensure that it is able to command further work to support its future. That will remain the Government’s priority in the forthcoming period.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I will not tire of pointing out to the Conservatives their total and utter inadequacy in the Parliament, because they come here asking us to spend more money when they would not put budget provision in place. The Tories are a disgrace.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
What I would say is that the Government is investing in the ferry network. We have procured six large vessels to join the network. We have got seven smaller vessels that will be joining the network over time. The Government is putting up the money to support that.
Mr Sarwar has talked about the Ferguson’s yard. I remind him of what the GMB said when it wrote to him in 2022. Mr Sarwar was told by the GMB that the Labour Party’s approach to the situation at Ferguson’s is so “disappointing”. That is what the GMB told Mr Sarwar. Why? It did so because Mr Sarwar and his colleagues, who are repeatedly shouting at me today, have done what the Tories have done for years—they have run down Ferguson’s while this Government has supported Ferguson’s, for which I make no apology today.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
The Cabinet will next meet on Monday, in Kirkintilloch, where we will have the opportunity to meet local businesses, service providers and community groups, as well as to hear directly from local community members.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I unequivocally condemn the recent attack on the Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre. I recognise the traumatic impact that such incidents have on individuals, families and communities. That is why we are taking robust and meaningful action to challenge such prejudice. We are tackling hatred and Islamophobia through delivery of our hate crime strategy.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I agree with the points that Mr Choudhury has put to me. I reassure him and the Muslim community in Scotland that I have been constantly encouraged by the approach that Police Scotland has taken. It has always sought dialogue with the Muslim community and has, at times of anxiety, accentuated its engagement. I know that, during Ramadan and at other times of the year, Police Scotland is actively engaged with the community to ensure that it feels safe. That is what I want the community to feel, and I know that that is the view of the Parliament and Police Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
The Government is taking a number of steps to support the development of the offshore wind industry. Significant investments have already landed in Scotland, with the commitments at Ardersier and the investments by Sumitomo at Nigg. We are also supporting further developments at Scapa Flow and Montrose. There is a great deal of investment happening.
I reassure Jackie Dunbar that the level of investment interest in Scotland, as demonstrated at the global offshore wind investment forum on Monday, is very encouraging. The Government is taking steps to ensure that we align the investment opportunities with sites in Scotland, supported by our enterprise development agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank. A number of steps are coming together that will enable us to reap the rewards of the significant natural opportunities that we have.
