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 4270 contributions
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Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
Thank you for that. As someone who sat on the cross-party group on chronic pain, I know that there are individuals who will personally testify to evidence that they have heard or who are aware of somebody who has, under exceptional circumstances, benefited from use of the product. I ask the clerks to find out whether there is potentially a body of evidence from other countries where the use of whole plant cannabis oil may be an approved procedure. It is one of those issues on which we are told that the evidence does not exist, but it cannot exist within our own sphere. Various engagements are taking place in relation to potential trials. We should seek to find out what we can about those.
I am interested in the chief pharmaceutical officer’s assertion that there is a “clear and united view” among specialist doctors that they would be unwilling to prescribe such products. Perhaps we could pursue that a bit more, because I would like to understand the reasoning for it.
Are members happy to pursue the petition on that basis?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
Given how the Government is approaching the matter, with the detailed schedule of actions, and given that it will share the details of the petition and its response, I am minded to close the petition. A package of actions seems to be in place.
I agree, however, that there are two actions that we could take. First, we could ask the Scottish Government, in developing its consultation, whether it would be possible to consult or potentially utilise the petitioners themselves, given that they are an organised interested party. I also think that it would be useful to pick up Paul Sweeney’s suggestion about giving more focus to best practice, and to do so with the appropriate level of enthusiasm and zest.
Beyond that, given that the Government is going to share the petition and is taking forward many of its aims, I am minded to close the petition.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
I do not think that we do that with any great pleasure.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
We have heard from our two colleagues. As the committee considers what to do next, do colleagues have any comments? I am tempted to come to you, David Torrance, simply because you have long been engaged with the petition, but I will not if you have a burning ambition for me not to do that. [Laughter.]
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
On that basis, I think that we are inclined to keep the petition open and to seek an update from the Scottish Government on its response to the deer working group, as our predecessor committee suggested. That could highlight some of the issues that Mr Sweeney has just raised. Do members agree?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
Is going through Professor Nandi the only way to get the treatment in England, or are there other places where it is offered?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
Thank you. Would colleagues like to comment on the evidence that we have heard?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
Thank you. We can write to the DWP. The Scottish Government has asserted that the DWP has taken a position. We do not know whether it is actually the case that the DWP would regard a change from 20m to 50m as a significant violation of the like-for-like principle. I simply see from the submissions that the Scottish Government suggests that that might be the case. It would be worth testing that.
The petitioner has noted that it would not lead to any enhancement of benefit, as such; it would just make access to the benefit slightly easier for the people whom it is meant to assist. We should clarify that point, at least, in addition to the suggestion that came forward. We might see where the response to those representations takes us, and pursue the discussion after that. Does that seem reasonable?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
I certainly have long memories of the petition on seat belts in school buses, which, I seem to remember, eventually led to the minister, Mike Penning, agreeing to devolve competences to the Scottish Parliament. I do not know whether that ever actually happened—[Interruption.] Apparently it did, some time ago.
David Torrance, having heard from Paul Sweeney, would you be content for us to explore some of these issues further with the Scottish Government?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 September 2021
Jackson Carlaw
PE1867, which was lodged by Scott Macmillan, calls on the Scottish Government to encourage the Scottish Qualifications Authority to establish a national qualification in British Sign Language at SCQF level 2, under the Scottish credit and qualifications framework. The petitioner is calling for the new qualification so that BSL can be eligible to be an L2 language, which would allow it to be taught from primary 1.
In her submission, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills explains that the establishment of new qualifications is a matter for the SQA. However, she highlights that children must be able to study an L2 language
“at secondary school to the level of a National Qualification”.
There are currently no national qualifications in place for BSL. Therefore, as matters stand, even with the creation of a national qualification in British Sign Language at SCQF level 2, BSL would still not be eligible to be an L2 language.
That is definitely a chicken-and-egg definition. What thoughts do members have in response to the petition?
