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 1696 contributions
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Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Claire Baker
I appreciate that there are a lot of amendments in the group. On amendment 151, I hear what the cabinet secretary is saying about it being for the EHRC to issue guidance in this area, but public bodies, including Education Scotland, have provided guidance in addition to EHRC guidance around the Equality Act 2010 on discrimination. Education Scotland describes its guidance as a
“reference which should be used both to develop and review policy.”
It is a tool. The Government could look at whether that is the approach that it should take to providing more guidance in this area. In a briefing that it sent to members, the EHRC said that it had written to the Scottish Government and the UK Government
“to get clarity for employers and service providers on the law.”
The EHRC provides guidance on occupational exemptions, but it has written to the Scottish and UK Governments because it sees a role for Government in providing clarity for employers and service providers.
Cabinet secretary, have you seen the letter and had a chance to respond? I would be interested to know what the difference is with the guidance that Education Scotland has issued on the Equality Act 2010, which comes from 2021 and is described as
“technical guidance”
that provides
“an authoritative, comprehensive and technical guide to the detail of the law.”
I will press the amendment. The cabinet secretary might feel that it oversteps in relation to the role of the Scottish Government, but does she recognise that there is a role for the Scottish Government to provide guidance on the operation of the 2010 act in Scotland? Perhaps we could have further discussion before stage 3 in order to reach a shared understanding of what role the Scottish Government has in ensuring that public bodies and employers in Scotland know how to use the law effectively.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Claire Baker
I wonder whether the cabinet secretary can provide clarity on an issue that is linked to the previous discussion. The right to make decisions on exceptions sits with the employer, not with the patient. The patient has the right to ask about who can provide care, but the right to make any decisions under the Equality Act 2010 sits with the employer. I note that the cabinet secretary has said that the employer makes the decision, but can she set out the legal framework upon which they do so?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
Thank you. I will begin by asking some questions about progress on fair work. You mentioned the report card that was published in December 2020, where the convention raised concerns about lack of progress on realising the 2025 vision. In March 2021, the convention warned that, unless the Scottish Government took urgent action, the vision would not be realised.
Have you seen the urgent action that you called for since then? Are there actions that the Government needs to take forward to make sure that we reach the 2025 target? Why has progress in some areas been so slow?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Decision on Taking Business in Private
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
Good morning, and welcome to the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s 26th meeting in 2022. No apologies have been received.
Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take item 3 in private. Are members content to take that item in private?
Members indicated agreement.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
Thank you. I will bring in Graham Simpson.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
That is helpful. The committee might decide to follow up on that issue in the future.
That brings us to the end of the evidence session. I thank all the witnesses for coming along and sharing their knowledge and expertise.
10:59 Meeting continued in private until 12:23.Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
I am going to change the order of questions and bring in Jamie Halcro Johnston, as his question is relevant, I think, to what we have heard so far. I will then come to Colin Smyth.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
You have started to address issues that other members will want to pick up on. The convention’s report of December 2020 said that the Covid-19 crisis
“laid bare much of the unfairness in our economy”
and that
“even before the pandemic, limited progress was being made in improving key fair work indicators.”
The refreshed plan is due out quite soon—I think that it was meant to have been out in the autumn. Will it be able to address the existing unfairness, which has been added to by the pandemic? Will that be the plan’s focus, or will its focus be elsewhere in terms of addressing any gaps?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
What would you like to see in the plan when it comes out?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Fair Work Convention
Meeting date: 16 November 2022
Claire Baker
Our next item of businesses is an evidence-taking session with the Fair Work Convention. The purpose of the session is to provide members with an introduction to the convention’s work and to discuss with it the challenges and opportunities that businesses and workers face.
I welcome Mary Alexander and Patricia Findlay, who are co-chairs of the Fair Work Convention. They are joined by Helen Martin, who is head of the convention secretariat.
As always, I ask members and witnesses to keep their questions and answers as short and concise as possible.
I invite Mary Alexander to make a short opening statement.
