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 2291 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Two-child Benefit Cap
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Miles Briggs
I am always pleased to be able to debate welfare in the Parliament, and I welcome the fact that the Government has brought forward the debate. However, perhaps what we have seen is more to do with tomorrow’s by-election than the Government wanting to have a proper debate on the issue.
Meeting of the Parliament
Two-child Benefit Cap
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Miles Briggs
As I have said, these are difficult decisions, and Governments have had to take them. The cabinet secretary has also got to think about that. However, the failure of this Government is what this Parliament is responsible for. As we have already heard, this Government has failed in relation to the roll-out of free school meals, the ability of local authorities to adequately fund childcare provision and the scandal of the record number of children living in temporary accommodation in Scotland today. That is this Government’s record, and the cabinet secretary needs to start debating it more often, rather than simply accusing others.
SNP and Green ministers demand to know from Opposition parties where money for additional spending commitments will come from. Today, the cabinet secretary seems to think that the defence budget is the one that she would target. However, where is the £300 million coming from? The cabinet secretary just saying that it would come from scrapping Trident is student politics; it is not how we deliver for the people of this country.
The Scottish Government has received the largest budget settlement in the history of devolution. It has the powers to create new benefits—
Meeting of the Parliament
Two-child Benefit Cap
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Miles Briggs
No. I am coming to a conclusion.
The Scottish Government has the ability to top up reserved benefits if it wishes, and we, as a Parliament, have the opportunity to decide where we want to change welfare policies. Powers over welfare, and over taxation to pay for those decisions, were demanded and transferred precisely so that our Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government could make different choices if the Scottish Government of the day so wanted.
That is why recent polling conducted by YouGov, which was published in July, found that 60 per cent of respondents agreed that the two-child limit on the number of children for whom parents can claim should be kept. In fact, 53 per cent of respondents in Scotland agreed as well.
As I said at the start of my speech, Governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and London face difficult spending decisions. As future decisions are taken, we should all work to make sure that our welfare system is fair both to those who need the support and to taxpayers, and, ultimately, that it is sustainable.
I move amendment S6M-10716.2, to leave out from “calls” to end and insert:
“notes that the UK Government has a duty to manage public finances carefully for future generations; considers that the UK Government has sought to curb increasing welfare spending by reducing benefits to those on higher incomes acknowledges exemptions to the two-child policy in respect of Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit, such as for families with children with disabilities; welcomes the UK Government’s £94 billion in support to help families navigate the global cost of living crisis, and commits to focusing on debating issues that are within devolved responsibilities, such as the roll-out of benefits through Social Security Scotland, the closing of the poverty-related attainment gap, the roll-out of free school meals, the inability of local authorities to adequately fund childcare provisions and the disturbing number of children in temporary accommodation.”
15:15Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
That is helpful. In the interests of transparency, I hope that that information can be shared with the committee or published, so that we are aware of the individual buildings that we are talking about and the number of council buildings involved.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
One of my questions has been covered—it was about not being able to put a figure on the funding—but I will ask some more detailed questions with regard to how we take change forward.
NHS Scotland now has NHS Scotland Assure, which is looking at new buildings. I know that that is not a perfect science and that, as a new organisation, it will often be looking at buildings as they move towards their completion rather than when they were on the drawing board, but is the Scottish Government looking at what that will mean for local authorities and considering a new model? We heard from the first panel some suggestions about a public register of what buildings are made of. Is any work going on around that to consider what needs to change?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
The committee has considered flammable cladding systems and we are now discussing RAAC. Are you satisfied that our public building procurement is fit for purpose and that it is looking not only at best value but at the long-term sustainability of the buildings and at live information from around the world when concerns are expressed? It is interesting that the members of our first panel, by and large, seemed to think that, as a country, we are very good as regards the health and safety element but that, rather than public services doing procurement work on their own, there might be a need for more specialist services.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
I am a Conservative MSP for Lothian region.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
My question is on an area that we have touched on already. Are there other widely used building materials and techniques that might pose a problem and which the committee should be aware of? Peter Watton, you touched on asbestos paint earlier. As you look at the issue, are you seeing other examples starting to come forward?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
When it comes to cladding, we know that we do not have the workforce to do all the inspections. It was revealed last week that more than half of NHS buildings that might contain RAAC have not been inspected. Where is the Government as regards the provision of support with that to public agencies, especially councils and the NHS? We will not be able to magic up such people overnight. What are ministers’ expectations of the timescale for completion of those inspections, so that we know what the risk is, which is currently unknown?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
Meeting date: 3 October 2023
Miles Briggs
I have one more question. We have already talked about a potential building register to give us knowledge about what is being built through our public services as well as individual homes. The committee has already done work on the poor quality of new-build homes and flammable cladding systems, and now it is looking at RAAC. With regard to the public sector and the procurement teams that will manage the procurement process in the future, what do you think needs to change in that particular model? I am thinking, for example, of some high-profile cases involving new-build hospitals. Why are we getting that wrong?
When I was on the Health and Sport Committee, I suggested the establishment of a central body to oversee those health projects. The health secretary took the suggestion forward, and I think that it is making a difference. We have to be honest: as we have heard, we are a small country, and sometimes our public services do not have the expertise that is needed. What would such a central body look like? Are there any suggestions that we should take forward? Ailsa, I will bring you back in, as you mentioned the building register that you had started.
