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 1576 contributions
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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
Amendment 97 would change the test that an application must pass for a licence to be granted for the undertaking of muirburn on peatland. The bill currently sets out that a licence may be granted for muirburn on peatland if it
“is necessary for the specified purpose”
and
“no other method of vegetation control”
is available. During consideration of evidence at stage 1, a number of interested parties raised the concern that there might be circumstances in which other methods of vegetation control may be available, but they may not be practicable or effective in all circumstances. They expressed real worry that the wording in the bill would significantly restrict the ability to make muirburn to such an extent that it would be impossible to carry out muirburn on peatland.
I do not think that it was the intention that the bill place such a high bar on licence applications. It would be preferable if NatureScot considered such matters on a case-by-case basis, including whether any other methods of vegetation control would be suitable, and, as a result, whether a licence should be issued. It is likely that there will always be other methods of vegetation control available, such as cutting, but they might not be practical or desirable; for example, due to the topography of the land.
My amendment would ensure that NatureScot could consider, on a case-by-case basis, any practical issues arising from alternative methods of vegetation control, and it would give NatureScot the flexibility to issue a licence for muirburn if no other method of vegetation control was practical. It is my hope that local people, such as those in my constituency, would be listened to as part of that process, to allow their knowledge and experience to inform decision making. In the same way, there is expertise in NatureScot that should also be listened to in order to inform local practice. That dialogue and working together will increase and improve everyone’s knowledge about muirburn and local peatlands.
For all those reasons, I encourage members to vote for amendment 97, not least because it responds to one of the recommendations in our stage 1 report.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
It is not within the scope of my amendment, but I certainly acknowledge the need to control the spread of Lyme disease, which has been an issue in parts of my constituency. We should of course be open to looking at all measures around that.
My amendment, however, focuses on ensuring that crofters continue, where appropriate, to carry out muirburn on their crofts or common grazings for the purposes of reseeding or to provide or improve grazing, as they have done for generations. I hope that, whatever the Government’s reaction to my amendment is, the minister will be willing to work with me on the issue in the future.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
I should have explained that amendment 94 merely gives the legal definition of a crofter for the purposes of amendment 90. That amendment not having been passed, amendment 94 does not make much sense on its own, so I will not move it.
Amendment 94 not moved.
Amendment 24 not moved.
Section 10, as amended, agreed to.
After section 10
Amendment 149 not moved.
Section 11—Grant of muirburn licence
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
Unless I have drafted it badly, yes. My intention is to provide another reason that crofters could use to employ muirburn.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
My amendment 90 seeks specifically to allow crofters to apply for a muirburn licence for the purpose of reseeding to provide or improve grazing on peatland. The bill allows licences for muirburn on peatland only for the purposes of restoring the natural environment, preventing wildfire and research. During stage 1, crofting stakeholders raised concerns about the lack of provision in the bill for muirburn on crofting peatland for the purposes of reseeding, which they highlighted is a traditional and effective practice that, when carried out properly, avoids damage to the peat. Controlled muirburn over small areas of land, such as on crofts or common grazings, is a long-established practice in crofting areas across the Highlands and Islands. Although there are alternative reseeding methods that could be attempted on that terrain, their potential efficacy is viewed as highly questionable.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
How do we separate the important but distinct objectives relating to rural policy and agricultural policy? How do we ensure that they are not conflated? How are they related? How do we attach priority to them?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
That leads neatly to my next theme, which relates to what should be on the face of the bill—we have heard that phrase being thrown around in committees and elsewhere. We would have some very long legislation if everything was “on the face of” every bill.
We have had some discussion about the rural support plan. Are you content that there is enough in the bill to define its meaning and aims?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
I likewise wonder if you will go a little further and offer to work with me ahead of stage 3.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
On the basis of the offer that the minister has made to work with me ahead of stage 3, I will not move amendment 90.
Amendment 90 moved—[Rachael Hamilton].
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Alasdair Allan
I appreciate that time is wearing on, so I will make a brief point. It is a technical point, but I hope also an important one.
There will be a lot of secondary legislation on the back of this bill, and there is a concern to ensure that the balance is right in how that is scrutinised. What are your plans for parliamentary scrutiny around secondary legislation, particularly in relation to getting the balance right with regard to negative procedure for secondary legislation?
