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 2218 contributions
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Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Bob Doris
Those comments are very helpful, and they will certainly be helpful when we talk about the powers of the commissioner and their role later.
Before we move on to our next line of questioning, Professor Jones, do you have any reflections on Professor Reid’s comments, or do you have any views on the matter yourself?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Bob Doris
We will find out once we go into private session.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
My final questions are more general. You helpfully mentioned that there is an appreciation of the fact that cars are an absolute lifeline and necessity for many reasons in remote and rural areas, even when those areas have enhanced public transport. Should we expect constraints on the growth in car usage to be more predominant in urban areas? Will you give some examples of the current actions that the Scottish Government is taking—notwithstanding the new plan that will be published shortly—to reduce car usage or to encourage a switch to public transport?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
Yes, convener. However, I hope that you do not mind me saying at the start that the best way that MSPs can support bus services is to use them. As a non-driver, I frequently use buses with my family in Glasgow. The best way that we can support buses is to drive patronage up and not down.
I will turn to SPT and its proposals. My understanding is that its new strategy was published in September, and it included progressing with franchising, for which it intends to have costings in December this year. It looks as though its plans are on track. However, I have also seen it reported from some SPT projections that the annual running costs of franchising—not the set-up costs—could be up to £85 million or as low as £45 million per year, so there is a massive range in costings and in the expectations of what franchising might look like in practice. One commercial operator speculated that it could be hundreds of millions of pounds per year.
We can make the process as robust and detailed as we like and we can protect it against legal challenges as much as we like, but if the money is not there to deliver it, it ain’t going to happen. Getting the money is a collective endeavour. The SPT has progressed with its proposals, but there are lots of other partners, one of which is the Scottish Government. So, my question is this: has there been any discussion with the cabinet secretary about how any of that might be funded?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
That is perfectly reasonable. I just wanted to put on the record that we could get the process perfect, but if there is no money to fund it, it ain’t going happen anyway.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
I get the complexities. Local authorities might look at franchising in a very different way to one another. SPT is trying to shepherd its proposals in a strategic and robust way with a clear business plan. Has there been any discussion at all between the Government and COSLA, local authorities or SPT about potential future costings and what the financing might look like?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
I thought that I would ask about the Scottish Government’s current position on car usage. I am conscious that, in 2020, there was an ambition to reduce the number of car kilometres travelled by 20 per cent, and this year there has been a renewed policy statement in partnership with COSLA that is still about tackling car usage but it has no specific target. That might be a reflection of the Climate Change Committee advice that we got this year that modelled a required reduction in car usage for carbon budgets of 6 per cent by 2035, which is very different from the 2020 target. It would be helpful for the committee to understand what the Scottish Government’s ambition is for the reduction in car usage.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
Although we will get more information on a sectoral basis across the portfolio when the climate change plan is published, I am conscious that the 6 per cent reduction predicated by the UK Climate Change Committee—if I have got this right—means a 6 per cent reduction in anticipated growth in car usage rather than a reduction in kilometres. At this stage, can you say whether the Scottish Government’s position is that it wishes to see fewer kilometres travelled by car or to constrain the growth in kilometres travelled by car? I am conscious that you also mentioned that it is about reducing emissions as much as it is about reducing kilometres.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
Okay, so we will have to wait and see the climate change plan to know whether the Scottish Government’s position is for fewer kilometres.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Bob Doris
That is helpful, thank you.
