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: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I recognise that those are important steps that could be taken to assist the situation. The emphasis on improving the information that is available to us about individual conditions is part of the approach that is envisaged in the women’s health plan for Scotland. I am happy to take away the point that Carol Mochan puts to me to determine the steps that can be taken to improve the flow of data that will assist in the planning of such treatment.
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
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
The Government is being accused of rigging the process on one occasion, and now the Government is being accused of not rigging the process to make sure that the contracts for the vessels can go to Ferguson’s. That demonstrates that Russell Findlay is scraping the bottom of the barrel of political insults. He does it week after week in the Parliament, and it is a disgrace to the Conservative Party.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I think that Scotland is able to take forward its shipbuilding activities, and we have many examples of that being the case. The Government has intervened using our economic development powers and interventions to support that over a number of years. If it had not been for the actions of this Government and the actions that I took as a minister in the past, there would be no constancy of work at Ferguson Marine, and I make no apology for putting it in that direction.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I do not believe that any of the guff that Mr Sarwar has suggested is my view. Absolutely not—
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 will certainly explore that question. It is important that people in our society who require support are able to receive it at the earliest possible opportunity. We are seeing a reduction in Social Security Scotland’s processing times across the range of social security services that are available. I will consider the point that Mr Balfour has put to me.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
John Swinney
I understand the anxiety that Christine Grahame has expressed. We have all been enormously troubled and concerned by the United Kingdom Government’s announcements, which will significantly undermine access to the disability benefits that will be available to individuals. We have to observe with care the process that the United Kingdom Government is going through, because it will determine the principal impact on the finances that we have available to support the benefits and social security arrangements that are under our control.
I cannot give a definitive answer to Christine Grahame, but I can say that, under the legislation that the Government has put to the UK Parliament, the decisions that we take on social security must ensure that we operate a system that has dignity and respect at its heart. The UK Government’s decisions do not have at their heart dignity and respect, but austerity. We were told that the election of a Labour Government would end austerity, but this week disabled people and others who are vulnerable in our society have learned the hard way that Labour is carrying on the austerity of the Tories.
