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 1816 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Urgent Question
Meeting date: 1 June 2021
Keith Brown
It is the first time that I have heard reference to the square go defence, but that is an important point, which is similar to the one that Pauline McNeill and Emma Roddick raised. An accused person cannot claim that a person consented to the harm that was caused to them, so it is right to say that there is no legitimate rough sex defence. However, it is also true that an accused person may seek to portray events in such a way to reduce the charge from murder to culpable homicide, as I mentioned. That is for the court to determine in any given case.
I am pleased that the Scottish Law Commission is looking to see whether steps are needed to make the law clearer in this regard. I will carefully consider its recommendations.
I agree with Emma Harper that it is important to be clear about what we are saying when discussing the rough sex defence.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Urgent Question
Meeting date: 1 June 2021
Keith Brown
I am more than happy to provide an update in writing to Claire Baker. Given the discussion that we have just had, the proposed reforms and the Scottish Law Commission’s report, this area will be subject to substantially more scrutiny. It is important that that be based on relevant and up-to-date data, so I am happy to respond on the question of where we are now with the collection of such data and to give an indication of where we intend to go with it.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Urgent Question
Meeting date: 1 June 2021
Keith Brown
I thank Emma Roddick for her question. I am not sure whether this is the first time that she has spoken in the chamber, but I welcome her to her place here.
The issue that Emma Roddick raises is similar to the one raised by Pauline McNeill. It is an important issue, but I hope that members understand that the Scottish Law Commission will prepare the final report with recommendations and deliver it to ministers; therefore, I do not want to pre-empt the consideration that ministers will give the final report once it is provided. However, I think that there is a compelling case for giving serious consideration to that specific area of reform, and I look forward to hearing what people have to say in response to the discussion paper. It is likely that many people will express the view that has been expressed by Emma Roddick before the commission makes its recommendations for reform.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Urgent Question
Meeting date: 1 June 2021
Keith Brown
I thank James Dornan for his question and, like him, commend his constituent, Fiona Drouet, for the #EmilyTest campaign and the work that she has tirelessly undertaken to support effective gender-based violence interventions in colleges and universities. I commend Fiona for all her efforts and, in particular, those that were focused on improving students’ wellbeing and ensuring that victims of abuse do not blame themselves for crimes that are committed against them. As I said, I am aware of the work that Fiona has done in further and higher education institutions.
The effect of the changes to the law in England and Wales is that it is now a matter of statute that a person cannot claim a so-called rough sex defence, whereas it was previously a matter of common law.
The United Kingdom Government has acknowledged that it was not a new law but that it involved the position being made clear in statute for the first time, as I have said. For that reason, the new statute is not yet in force; it was passed only recently. However, I commit to answering the member’s question through engaging directly with the UK Government to understand what plans it might have to monitor and evaluate the effect of the new law.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Urgent Question
Meeting date: 1 June 2021
Keith Brown
I thank Jamie Greene for his question. I also welcome him to the role of justice spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives and thank him for the constructive discussion that we had once he had been appointed to his post.
We are pleased that the Scottish Law Commission has published its extensive discussion paper on reforms to homicide law. The Scottish Government asked the commission to undertake that project in light of various court judgments that recommended a fundamental study into homicide law, and the progress that the commission has made is positive.
In line with the normal process for Scottish Law Commission reports, we are awaiting the commission’s final report, which will be developed from, and informed by, the responses to its initial discussion paper. I do not want to pre-empt the commission’s final recommendations, but I welcome its inclusion of certain aspects of homicide law for consideration for reform, including consideration of whether Scots law needs to be made clearer with regard to the so-called rough sex defence; whether new defences are needed in respect of those who experience domestic abuse; and consideration of reforming the defence of provocation in that area of law. It is right that Parliament will have the opportunity to consider the commission’s final recommendations on those matters when it reports.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Oaths and Affirmations
Meeting date: 13 May 2021
Keith Brown
made a solemn affirmation.
