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 (Hybrid)
Covid-19
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is a statement by Nicola Sturgeon on a Covid-19 update. The First Minister will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
14:28Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Decision Time
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
The next question is, that motion S6M-00369, in the name of Maree Todd, on women’s health, as amended, be agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to,
That the Parliament welcomes that the Scottish Government will publish a Women’s Health Plan within the first 100 days of the current parliamentary session; notes that the plan will seek to improve support and services for the health and wellbeing needs of women and girls at every stage of their lives; believes that it is vital that health and care services for menopause, endometriosis and heart healthcare need to substantially improve; recognises that the causes of many healthcare issues facing women and girls are rooted in health and income inequalities, and that actions to address these are needed alongside the enhancement of services, and believes that, if a broad consensus on women’s health can be realised, Scotland has the opportunity to become a global leader in this field; acknowledges that, historically, the health concerns of women have been too easily ignored or dismissed; deeply regrets the life-changing damage to women as the result of transvaginal mesh surgery; commends the Scottish Mesh Survivors group, which has determinedly fought to raise awareness of the dangers of mesh and prevent further women being injured by its use, and supports the asks of its Charter for Mesh Care, which is calling for funding to be immediately made available to cover the costs of mesh removal for women having to undergo private surgery.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Decision Time
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
That concludes decision time.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Business Motion
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is consideration of business motion S6M-00395, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, on suspension of standing orders.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees that—
(a) for the purposes of consideration of the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 24) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/211) and the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 11) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/212) rules 10.1.3(a) and 10.3.3 of Standing Orders be suspended;
(b) the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 24) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/211) and the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 11) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/212) be considered by the Parliament; and
(c) for the purposes of consideration of the Meat Preparations (Import Conditions) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/161), the Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 206/2021), the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 (Championship Period and Transitory Provision etc.) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/207), the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (Modification) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/210), the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (Early Expiry of Provisions) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/214), the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/220), the Welfare Foods (Best Start Foods) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/221), the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) (Modification and Revocation) (Coronavirus) Amendment Order 2021 (SSI 2021/222), Act of Sederunt (Fees of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers) (Amendment) 2021 (SSI 2021/225), the Scottish Parliament Elections (Returning Officer Fees and Charges) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/155), the Specified Diseases (Notification and Slaughter) Amendment (Scotland) Order 2021 (SSI 2021/160) and the Elections (Returning Officer Fees and Charges) Amendment Regulations 2021(SSI 2021/165), Rule 10.3.2 of Standing Orders be suspended.—[George Adam]
Motion agreed to.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Parliamentary Bureau Motions
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
The questions on the motions will be put at decision time.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Parliamentary Bureau Motions
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is consideration of three Parliamentary Bureau motions. I ask George Adam, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, to speak to and move motion S6M-00392, on temporary rule changes, and to move motions S6M-00393, on establishment of committees, and S6M-00394, on committee remits.
17:40Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Time for Reflection
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
Good afternoon. I remind members that social distancing measures are in place in the chamber and across the Holyrood campus. I ask members to take care to observe those measures, including when entering and exiting the chamber. Please use the aisles and walkways only to access your seats and when moving around the chamber.
The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Andy Philip, chaplain, St Mary’s Episcopal cathedral, Edinburgh.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
There are three topical questions today. There is a great deal of interest in them, so I would be grateful for short questions and succinct responses.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Covid-19
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
That concludes the Covid-19 update.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Women’s Health
Meeting date: 15 June 2021
Alison Johnstone
I call Siobhian Brown. This is Ms Brown’s first speech in the chamber.
17:03