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.
Filter your results Hide all filters
Displaying 4938 contributions
|
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
If Mr Sarwar wants to know how he is getting on, he might want to have a look at some of the substance of the Ipsos polling last week. When the public in Scotland were asked, “Who do you trust most to manage education and schools in Scotland?”, trust in the SNP was rising and trust in the Labour Party was falling. The Labour Party is making absolutely no progress. If Mr Sarwar thinks that that is only on education, I can say that it also relates to health. Trust in the Labour Party to solve the issues in the health service is falling, and trust in the SNP is rising. Why? Because waiting lists are going down, waiting times are going down and general practitioner numbers are going up, and because we are delivering on the national health service.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I say to Mercedes Villalba that she is not comparing like for like in the conditions of the projects that were taken forward in the different leasing rounds. That is the first point. The second point is that we have taken decisions that will enable the development of the supply chain with very significant economic opportunities for Scotland. However, we need the United Kingdom Government to ensure that grid connections will be delivered in a fashion that meets the needs of the industry in Scotland.
Finally, I could not agree with Mercedes Villalba more that the energy wealth of Scotland should benefit the people of Scotland. That is why we need Scottish independence.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I am delighted to do so. I know that Cumbernauld theatre has been a very important artistic venue in Cumbernauld for many years. It has new accommodation, and I am delighted that the Government has been able to put the resources in place to support that. I am grateful to Jamie Hepburn for the formidable representations that he has made on behalf of his constituents.
In relation to the wider cultural sector in Scotland, a record total of 251 cultural organisations are receiving funding from this year. That is more than double the number of organisations that previously received core funding. The cultural opportunities in Scotland are very significant, and I know that Cumbernauld theatre will take the most advantage that it can from the investment that the Government has made to ensure that it continues to make a contribution to a thriving artistic and cultural sector in Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
It is my priority that as a country we generate prosperity and share it across Scotland for everyone to benefit from. I want a thriving, innovative and sustainable green economy, and the offshore wind industry is at the heart of that. It is driving investment and creating skilled, well-paid jobs.
Scottish Crown Estate revenue is allocated to local authorities for coastal community benefit. Since 2019, under that arrangement, more than £78 million has been passed to local authorities, including £11.5 million for Shetland.
We want to go further. Through our national islands plan, we are exploring opportunities for how the revenue from ScotWind projects and the wider Crown Estate can further support community infrastructure on islands.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
Our coastal regions are already eligible for community funds that support education, infrastructure, environmental initiatives and revenue reinvestment. We know that ScotWind is a catalyst for careers in the green industries, offering training and capacity building in project management, engineering, manufacturing and maritime services. We will always seek to ensure that benefits from ScotWind continue to be retained and invested locally in our communities.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I will take that issue forward. I know that it will be an urgent priority for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to ensure that patients are able to be properly notified of appointments. If there are delays in relation to Royal Mail services, we will seek to address those directly with Royal Mail through the channels that Mr McMillan has suggested.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
Obviously, every individual application has to be considered on its merits, and the approach to that has been set out by ministers. The approach of Social Security Scotland is to operate with dignity, compassion and respect. Those are the founding values of Social Security Scotland, and they will be applied to the application process that is taken forward.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
I begin by expressing my thanks to those who have participated in the work of the ARIOB. It has been an important exercise in creating partnership working in relation to difficult and sensitive judgments that involve competing interests and perspectives. The Government is absolutely committed to maintaining an approach to agriculture that focuses on supporting the agriculture sector, supporting the measures to tackle the nature crisis that we face and implementing measures on climate change. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands will continue to give leadership on the issue and bring parties together to find common ground in difficult and sensitive areas of policy.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
Many of those issues were discussed yesterday at a meeting between ministers and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to address the significant challenges that we face in relation to delayed discharge. Some of that is about the capacity that exists in local communities and the number of staff who are available. As Jackie Baillie will know, we have very low levels of unemployment in Scotland—significantly lower than the rest of the United Kingdom—and vacancies in social care in the provision of packages at local level.
The Government has a keen interest in resolving the issue, because that will reduce pressure in our hospitals, which have been experiencing acute challenges because of the rise in flu admissions, although, thankfully, it looks as though that increase is slowing. The Government is working with local authorities to ensure that we have the support in place to meet the needs that Jackie Baillie has raised with me.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 18 December 2025
John Swinney
Mr Lumsden highlights a particular pilot that is able to be taken forward within local licensing arrangements under certain conditions. I understand that that was taken forward in the case that Mr Lumsden raises. The Government has no plans to revisit this particular issue, but we will of course look with care at the outcome of the pilot that is being taken forward.
