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 1817 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
Work is progressing towards a Scottish Government consultation. Development of the consultation will be informed by an initial phase of expert research, which is currently under way. The research will ensure a detailed baseline understanding of the many distinct roles and functions of the law officers and will provide information on how the functions of law officers operate in other countries.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
I will first correct Murdo Fraser, as the consultation was mentioned in the programme for government, but it was not for completion in this year. It is a commitment that we will undertake throughout this parliamentary session. We have around 20 bills to take through in this session, and one of them will be on that issue, as we have stated.
Murdo Fraser gave the example of England and Wales. Of course, in the past, we had the Lord Chancellor, who was head of the judiciary and was part of the Executive and the legislature. That is not a clearly resolved situation in England and Wales.
It is right that we learn the lessons and take forward some of the indications that we get from the research. Surprisingly little research has been done on the role of the Scottish law officers. I am sure that the member would agree that it is right to proceed on the best foundations and to have the research to inform the consultation that we then undertake. That seems to me to be the responsible way to proceed.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
Measures to combat motorcycle theft are operational matters for Police Scotland. Since 2012-13, crimes of dishonesty, which include motorcycle theft, have reduced by 32 per cent. However, that should not detract from the serious nature of such incidents.
Supporting Police Scotland to keep our communities safe remains a priority for the Scottish Government. Policing services have been maintained and improved and, as we have heard, we have invested more than £10 billion in policing since 2013. We will continue to support the vital work of Police Scotland in delivering effective and responsive policing across Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
We remain fully committed to using the resources that are available to us to support the vital work of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland.
We will continue to invest across the justice system in 2022 and 2023-24 to support the continued operation of vital front-line services, provide support for victims and witnesses and tackle the underlying drivers of offending.
Meeting of the Parliament
Decision Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I was unable to access the app. I would have voted no.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
We have a situation in which the police in Scotland are better paid than any other police force in the UK, including in Wales. In fact, a starting constable starts on £5,000 a year more in Scotland—but I have never heard a word of commendation for that. We also have more police than anywhere else in the UK has, which is quite an important point that has led to our having some of the lowest crime and homicide figures ever recorded.
There is no question but that there are challenges in relation to budgets, but surely the member must see that the causes of those are the cuts to our budget and the Brexit fiasco that we have seen down south. One would think that the Labour Party would, once in a while, draw attention to the real problem here, which is underfunding from Westminster.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
I do not recognise the figure that Jamie Greene has just mentioned. I have been told that there has been a 5 per cent increase in the most recent year, from 4,311 crimes to 4,512 crimes.
In relation to resources for the police, as we have heard, we have far more police in Scotland. They are better paid, and we have lower crime rates in Scotland. Perhaps the Tories should take the example of Police Scotland and inform their colleagues south of the border of how to run a police service.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
The construction of HMP Highland is currently scheduled to be completed in late 2024. An opening date will be confirmed nearer the time to ensure that the prison is operational within a sufficient timeframe to allow for commissioning and staff familiarisation.
There will be a limited number of spaces for females, which will be used to accommodate brief stays for court appearances.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
I do not know whether Edward Mountain supports the building of a new prison in the Highlands. The prison is an example of the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Highlands.
In that regard, I mention the Berriedale Braes, which were left in the state that they were in for generations by previous Governments. We are also doing work on the A9, whereas Conservatives such as Murdo Fraser wanted to put that money towards trams in Edinburgh.
We have a strong commitment to the Highlands. As I have said, the building is scheduled to be completed by 2024, but I do not—
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Keith Brown
That is exactly the case. We could also mention the new justice centre in Inverness, which is funded by the Government.
The record will show—you will remember the parliamentary session that I am referring to, as well, Presiding Officer—that Murdo Fraser voted to have trams, at a cost of £500 million. I made that point, and he has now accused me of having told an untruth, so we will have to see how that figures in the Official Report.
I will not do as has been done repeatedly through these exchanges and make a point of order, but I think that it is important that members stick to the facts.
