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 11984 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
Let us hear Mr Ross.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
First Minister, as all members are aware, it is wholly inappropriate to suggest that another member of the Parliament has lied. I would be grateful if you might apologise.
Meeting of the Parliament
Veterans and Armed Forces Community
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
There is a very generous six minutes, Ms Boyack.
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
I dealt with that matter at the time, Mr Kerr.
We will move on to members’ business, which is a debate in the name of John Swinney. There will be a short suspension to allow those leaving the chamber and the public gallery to do so before the debate begins.
12:47 Meeting suspended.12:48 On resuming—
Meeting of the Parliament
Veterans and Armed Forces Community
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
I call Graeme Dey to wind up the debate. You have a very generous 10 minutes, minister.
16:43Meeting of the Parliament
Veterans and Armed Forces Community
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
Thank you. That concludes the debate on support for veterans and armed forces community.
Meeting of the Parliament
Decision Time
Meeting date: 5 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
There are two questions to be put as a result of today’s business. The first question is, that motion S6M-10743, in the name of Graeme Dey, on support for the veterans and armed forces community, be agreed to.
Motion agreed to,
That the Parliament recognises the importance of Scotland’s veterans and Armed Forces community, and greatly values the significant contribution that they continue to make to society; further recognises that the contribution of veterans continues and grows as they move back into the communities that they served, with their experiences enriching society and providing a valuable and positive base for employers; supports the Scottish Government’s veterans strategy action plan, which has a clear vision to ensure the best possible outcomes for veterans and their families; notes the progress made in delivering the Plan, and agrees that the Scottish Government should continue to work with partners across the public, private and third sectors to ensure that the veterans and Armed Forces community receives the best possible support and access to services.
Meeting of the Parliament
Two-child Benefit Cap
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
In conclusion, Michael Marra.
Meeting of the Parliament
Energy Bill
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-10709, in the name of Gillian Martin, on a legislative consent motion on the Energy Bill, United Kingdom legislation.
I would be grateful if members who wish to speak in the debate were to press their request-to-speak buttons.
I call Gillian Martin to speak to and move the motion, for up to seven minutes.
17:00Meeting of the Parliament
Business Motions
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Alison Johnstone
The next item of business is consideration of business motion S6M-10729, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees—
(a) the following programme of business—
Tuesday 24 October 2023
2.00 pm Time for Reflection
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Topical Questions (if selected)
followed by Ministerial Statement: Planning for Winter 2023-24 and Ongoing Resilience Across Health and Social Care
followed by Scottish Government Debate: Transvaginal Mesh
followed by Legislative Consent Motion: Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill - UK Legislation
followed by Committee Announcements
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.30 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Wednesday 25 October 2023
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Constitution, External Affairs and Culture;
Justice and Home Affairs
followed by Scottish Labour Party Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Approval of SSIs (if required)
5.10 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 26 October 2023
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 Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee Debate: Public Participation Inquiry
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00 pm Decision Time
Tuesday 31 October 2023
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 1 November 2023
2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions
2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy;
Finance and Parliamentary Business
followed by Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Business
followed by Business Motions
followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
followed by Approval of SSIs (if required)
5.10 pm Decision Time
followed by Members’ Business
Thursday 2 November 2023
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:
Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition
followed by Scottish Government Business
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 23 October 2023, 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.—[George Adam]
Motion agreed to.
