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 1496 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
I agree on the need to ensure that the skills are there, and it is relevant to island constituencies, such as the one that Beatrice Wishart represents, that we ensure that there are opportunities for training and retraining. For instance, we have invested in a mobile centre for heat pump installation training, to ensure that training opportunities are more equally available across Scotland. I visited that van when it was in Shetland, and I know that it has been appreciated by small businesses there. There are probably similar examples that can be replicated across the rest of the country.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
Over the past 10 years, the Scottish Government has invested around £50 million in marine technology development through the funding of Wave Energy Scotland. The growth of a world-leading marine renewables industry in this country has resulted in Scotland being internationally recognised as a global frontrunner in wave energy and home to the world’s first and largest tidal stream array and the largest tidal energy converter. However, the main levers for enabling the commercialisation of emerging pre-commercial technologies lie with the United Kingdom Government, including through the contracts for difference scheme, which is the primary way of supporting new low-carbon power infrastructure.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
As was discussed earlier today, the long-term trajectory around the income that the UK Government derives from the North Sea is determined by the long-term trajectory of the maturing of the North Sea basin. That does not mean that the Scottish Government does not think that oil and gas are important—clearly, they are. However, the trends that the member refers to are outwith the control of any Government. We have to ensure that there is a genuinely just transition for the parts of the country that have invested so heavily and have so many skills in the oil and gas sector, and to ensure that the many people in those industries who are seeking new opportunities get the skills that they need to do that.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
I concur with what Rhoda Grant says about the particular problem in the Highlands and Islands. I am aware of that from my constituency.
There is a recognition of rurality in the grant and loan scheme. There are also area-based schemes and many other schemes that have made a valuable contribution to addressing fuel poverty in the housing type that Rhoda Grant refers to. I am very acquainted with the situation, because I live in one of those properties.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
As the member has recognised, our abundant natural resources, the sector’s expertise and experience, and the significant investment of the Scottish Government and our enterprise agencies, to date, in wave and tidal energy development have positioned Scotland as a global leader in that sector. However, there is now an opportunity for the UK Government to further build on that success and support the commercialisation and expansion of those nascent technologies, including, as I mentioned, through contracts for difference, which is the primary means of supporting new low-carbon power infrastructure.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
I concur with what the member said and thank her for sponsoring that event. I also highlight the importance of the Scottish supply chain. As I said, we are investing up to £500 million over five years and we hope and expect that that will leverage in additional private investment of up to £1.5 billion in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities that are critical to growing the sector. That work by the Scottish Government to engage and attract the interest of the private sector will ultimately lead to the development at scale that the member alludes to.
I can also point to specific things, including strategic projects such as Sumitomo’s new cable factory, which is under construction at Nigg, or the planned manufacturing facility at Hunterston, as well as projects at Ardersier, Scapa, Nigg and Montrose.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
In comparison with much of Europe, Scotland enjoys good air quality, and emissions of the main air pollutants, which Colin Smyth referred to, have declined significantly over the past three decades. That has been achieved through tighter regulation, improved fuel quality, cleaner vehicles and many other factors.
As I mentioned, I am open to looking at such matters as we move forward, but we must do so in a way that takes account of the evidence from particular parts of Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
The success of Scotland’s offshore wind industry is a priority for this Government. Our investment forum last week underlined our commitment to attracting investment and demonstrated the approach that we are taking across the public sector by addressing areas such as investment, consenting, skills and grid.
We are working closely with the sector to align our approach to the challenges that it faces. This year, we have tripled our capital investment in the sector to £150 million to support the ports, manufacturing and supply chain facilities required, which is helping to secure jobs and economic benefits at scale in Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
General Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering an interoperable deposit return scheme with England and Northern Ireland in 2027 and continues to move ahead with preparations. We have received an industry-backed application to run Scotland’s DRS as well as the scheme in England and Northern Ireland.
We are currently assessing the application jointly with the United Kingdom Government and Northern Ireland. As it will be an industry-run scheme, we must be assured that the applicant can deliver DRS and act on behalf of all businesses. Any appointment will be announced once the assessment concludes, which we expect to be in April.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
General Question Time
Meeting date: 20 March 2025
Alasdair Allan
I realise the member’s commitment to the issue. Her question is one that would be usefully addressed to the UK Government, as the matter is not a shining example of the usefulness to Scotland of the so-called UK internal market act, which has again prevented a devolved nation from moving forward with the deposit return scheme as intended. Urgent action is needed from the UK Government to repeal the internal market act and restore the full powers of devolved Parliaments, so that they might undertake useful schemes of that kind.
