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 11668 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Decision Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
There is one question to be put as a result of today’s business. The question is, that motion S6M-16789, in the name of Liz Smith, on the Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members: No.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Decision Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
Thank you, Mr Choudhury. We will ensure that that is recorded.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
There is very little time in hand.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Decision Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
The result of the division on motion S6M-16789, in the name of Liz Smith, on the Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1, is: For 64, Against 1, Abstentions 53.
Motion agreed to,
That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Christina McKelvie
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
I invite members to sit with me in a moment of quiet reflection.
Thank you, colleagues. I suspend the meeting until First Minister’s question time at 12 noon.
11:45 Meeting suspended.12:00 On resuming—
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
We move to constituency and general supplementaries.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Decision Time
Meeting date: 26 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
That concludes decision time.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Decision Time
Meeting date: 26 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
There will be a division.
The vote is closed.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Business Motion
Meeting date: 26 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is consideration of motion S6M-16941, in the name of Jamie Hepburn, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme. I call Jamie Hepburn to move the motion.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees—
(a) the following programme of business—
Tuesday 1 April 2025
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions (if selected)
followed by Ministerial Statement: Tackling Fuel Poverty in Scotland: Periodic Report 2021-2024
followed by Stage 1 Debate: Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill
followed by Financial Resolution: Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill
followed by Legislative Consent Motion: Data (Use and Access) Bill - UK Legislation
followed by Appointment of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 2 April 2025
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands;
Health and Social Care
followed by Ministerial Statement: Heat in Buildings Bill
followed by Ministerial Statement: The Impact of the UK Government’s Spring Statement on Scotland
followed by Scottish Government Debate: The Impact of the UK Government’s Spring Statement on Scotland
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Approval of SSIs (if required)
5.30 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 3 April 2025
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Social Justice
followed by Ministerial Statement: Project Willow - Unlocking Grangemouth’s Potential
followed by Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, and Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: The Aarhus Convention and Access to Environmental Justice
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
Tuesday 22 April 2025
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions (if selected)
followed by Scottish Government Business
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 23 April 2025
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and Parliamentary Business;
Justice and Home Affairs
followed by Scottish Government Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Approval of SSIs (if required)
5.00 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 24 April 2025
11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions
11.40 am General Questions
12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions
followed by Members’ Business
2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Education and Skills
followed by Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee Debate: Inquiry into Framework Legislation and Henry VIII Powers
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
(b) that, for the purposes of Portfolio Questions in the week beginning 31 March 2025, in rule 13.7.3, after the word “except” the words “to the extent to which the Presiding Officer considers that the questions are on the same or similar subject matter or” are inserted.—[Jamie Hepburn]
Motion agreed to.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Parliamentary Bureau Motions
Meeting date: 26 March 2025
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau motion S6M-16942, on approval of a Scottish statutory instrument. I ask the minister, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, to move the motion.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees that the Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 (Treatment of Qualifications Scotland as Specified Authority) Order 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Jamie Hepburn]
