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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Meeting of the Parliament
Time for Reflection
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is Lucy McKee, who is a membership ambassador for Enable Scotland. Lucy’s contribution has been pre-recorded.
Meeting of the Parliament
Point of Order
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
I thank Mr Kerr for his point of order.
It is of paramount importance that members, including ministers, give accurate information to Parliament and that they correct inadvertent errors at the earliest opportunity. If any member has a question about the factual accuracy of another member’s contribution, they should raise it with that member. I am sure that all members are aware that Parliament has a corrections procedure and are aware of how that mechanism operates. I have not received a request to make a statement. If a member considers that a statement should be made, they should raise that directly with the relevant member. If a request to make a statement were to be received, I would notify the Parliamentary Bureau so that time could be scheduled and set aside for it.
My points reflect the procedures and practices that have been agreed to by Parliament but, of course, if anyone considers that those should be revised, they can raise the matter with the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee. We will move on to the next item of business.
Meeting of the Parliament
Decision Time
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
There are three questions to be put as a result of today’s business. The first question is, that amendment S6M-06763.1, in the name of Donald Cameron, which seeks to amend motion S6M-06763, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on the future of Gaelic and Scots, be agreed to.
Amendment agreed to.
Meeting of the Parliament
Decision Time
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
The next question is, that amendment S6M-06763.2, in the name of Michael Marra, which seeks to amend motion S6M-06763, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on the future of Gaelic and Scots, be agreed to.
Amendment agreed to.
Meeting of the Parliament
Decision Time
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
The final question is, that motion S6M-06763, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on the future of Gaelic and Scots, as amended, be agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to,
That the Scottish Government recognises the value of Gaelic and Scots and welcomes efforts of public bodies, stakeholders and the communities in supporting their growth and development; welcomes the progress that has been made in recent years with support for Gaelic in community initiatives, guidance and legislation, national structures and a wide range of projects and educational resources; further welcomes Scottish Government commitments to build on this progress, including the introduction of a Scottish Languages Bill in this parliamentary session, the establishment of a new strategic approach to Gaelic Medium Education, the development of a Gàidhealtachd, and reviewing the structure and functions of Bòrd na Gàidhlig; calls on all MSPs to promote the Scottish Government’s ongoing consultation on these commitments, to encourage people across Scotland to play their part in supporting a vibrant future for Gaelic and Scots; acknowledges that challenges exist in the promotion of Gaelic, in particular, the difficulties facing local authorities in filling Gaelic Medium Education teacher vacancies at primary and secondary level, with a consequential impact on subject choice in schools; urges MSPs to unite collectively to address these issues so that all of Scotland's languages can flourish; highlights the importance of protecting Gaelic and halting its decline in its heartlands in recent decades, by ensuring the increase of Gaelic speakers and protecting current Gaelic speaking communities by providing good quality jobs and housing to arrest depopulation in these areas, and by addressing current issues around regional economic inequality, connectivity and transport infrastructure as a matter of urgency; recognises the diversity of learners and speakers of Gaelic and Scots, and believes that more must be done to bring the promotion of these languages closer to communities across Scotland, and understands that cultural and social infrastructure across the country plays a key role in promoting local histories and languages that must be protected and enhanced.
Meeting of the Parliament
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
I thank Fergus Ewing for his question, but it bears no relation to the substantive question on the paper. I therefore ask the minister not to respond.
Meeting of the Parliament
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
That concludes topical question time.
Meeting of the Parliament
Gaelic and Scots
Meeting date: 15 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-06763, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on the future of Gaelic and Scots. I advise members that interpretation facilities are available. Members can listen by inserting the headphones into the socket on the right-hand side, towards the front of the console. Any member who is unable to hear the interpretation should press the audio button on the console and select channel 1 for English. I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons now.
14:32Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 10 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
Good morning. The first item of business is general question time. Question 1 has not been lodged.
Meeting of the Parliament
General Question Time
Meeting date: 10 November 2022
Alison Johnstone
Thank you. That concludes general question time. Before we move to First Minister’s question time, I invite members to join me in welcoming to the gallery the Hon Anthony Rota MP, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada. [Applause.]
