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 1720 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Net Zero: Local Government and Cross-sectoral Partners
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
I partly agree with the member. He refers to the lack of insulation being carried out under the area-based scheme. Does he acknowledge that the council, which did not run the previous scheme, and the national Government are now working together to try to recreate the scheme? I have said many times that this is a bad situation, and one that has been created by UK Government regulations. However, everyone must now work together to recreate a scheme that will work in the Western Isles.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Devolution Post-EU
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
I turn to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, if that is not too drastic a gear change. I am interested to hear opinions, perhaps starting with Mr Rycroft, but from others too, about how that bill will impact on Government time. The committee has discussed how it will affect us as a legislature and some of the issues of principle—if that does not sound like I am on a high horse. What planning is being done to cope with the enormous task that seems to be envisaged in that legislation over the next few months?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Devolution Post-EU
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
Thank you. That was pretty comprehensive. Do others wish to come in?
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
Transport agencies such as Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and companies such as Loganair have a key role in ensuring that the voices of local communities are heard. Does the minister agree that both organisations must listen more attentively to island communities than they have in recent days, when many lifeline air services have been cancelled for weeks on end?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Future Agriculture Policy
Meeting date: 8 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
I ask the question only because you mentioned that progress is perhaps slower than you would want it to be. What are the stumbling blocks and the challenges?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Future Agriculture Policy
Meeting date: 8 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
The witnesses have mentioned that consensus exists on some issues and that there is a variety of views on others. Can you identify the obstacles that are in the way of reaching a conclusion and on which there is consensus? That question is for anyone who wants to answer it.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Future Agriculture Policy
Meeting date: 8 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
One of you mentioned the opportunity to do things anew, but there is also tension, is there not? You mentioned the challenges of trying to second guess the budget that the UK Government will commit to in the longer term. Are there other things about the wider UK context that present challenges? There is the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020—which the committee has been looking at—the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and various other things. How do you fit what you are doing into the wider picture?
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 8 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential impact on turnout at future Scottish Parliament and local authority elections of the introduction by the United Kingdom Government of voter ID requirements for elections to the UK Parliament. (S6O-01965)
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 8 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
Given that the incidents of voter fraud that the measure purports to tackle are extremely rare, as far as anyone can establish, does the minister believe that the measure has been introduced in good faith, or is it simply a way for the Tories to try to cling on to their final remaining seats at the next UK election?
Meeting of the Parliament
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 7 March 2023
Alasdair Allan
It would be fair to say that my island constituents are horrified at Loganair’s recent action. The impact on patients alone, including cancer patients, is almost unthinkable. Seriously ill people rely on the service to access treatment on the mainland, and it is unclear how operations, appointments and scans will be carried out otherwise.
Directly and indirectly, Loganair has received substantial funding through the public purse, and it has now placed NHS Western Isles in an atrocious position. Did Loganair give the Government or island health boards any indication that such a disproportionate and draconian move was even being considered?
