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 2213 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
Low Income and Debt (Report)
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Miles Briggs
Thank you.
We have to look at the history and the fact that the Scottish Government has the highest budget in the history of devolution, but it decided to cut council budgets. That shows where the Scottish Government’s priorities have been and the consequences that those have.
People who are likely to experience poverty and debt are among the most marginalised in our communities. People with disabilities are most likely to face the highest excess costs in the UK. One in five disabled people and one in four families with disabled children face extra costs, which are now estimated to be more than £1,000 a month.
Other groups, including women, young parents and people who live in rural areas, were also highlighted to the committee. More needs to be done to ensure that those groups are provided with equal opportunities in order to stop them being disproportionately affected by debt.
Meeting of the Parliament
Low Income and Debt (Report)
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Miles Briggs
I thank all those who contributed to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee’s inquiry, and I thank organisations for the helpful briefings that they have provided to members ahead of the debate.
It is vital that we understand the challenges that are faced by people on low incomes and the debt problems that that drives, in particular in the context of the global cost of living crisis, which is placing more and more people further into debt, with the accompanying misery that that produces.
Prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was estimated that 600,000 people in Scotland were in debt. The real problem is that the pandemic has not only exacerbated money problems for people in Scotland, but is now driving them. Across the UK, the cost of living has been increasing since 2021. In September this year, inflation rose to a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent. Naturally, it is those in low-income households who are worst affected by that increase in inflation. High food and energy prices are among the consequences of high demand from consumers, supply chain issues and—most importantly, as we need to recognise—the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
Those who are living on low incomes are more likely to be in debt. Around half of low-income and middle-income households have at least one debt; in comparison, the figure is less than two in five for higher-income households. One of the key messages that came out of the inquiry from those with lived experience concerned the vital role that advice services have to play and the role that early intervention can and must play. The role of local authorities in supporting and providing such advice to individuals and families on low incomes is important.
Cutting council budgets and services harms the poorest in our society. Sometimes the Parliament does not recognise that enough. COSLA has already warned that further cuts to council budgets and services will mean the removal of services for the most vulnerable in our society.
Meeting of the Parliament
Low Income and Debt (Report)
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Miles Briggs
Will the member take an intervention?
Meeting of the Parliament
Low Income and Debt (Report)
Meeting date: 1 November 2022
Miles Briggs
If there is time in hand.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Miles Briggs
Good morning.
A number of my questions have been answered, but I want to go into more detail on software systems, because the UK Government is mandating the use of particular software systems for planning authorities in England. Do you have any concerns about what the practical implications of that might be for Scottish planning authorities in the future? You have all touched on that in relation to communicating data, but do you want to raise any specific issues?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Miles Briggs
Does anyone else want to come in on that point, or are you in also in the dark on software systems?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Miles Briggs
Is it your understanding that the same software providers will provide systems across the UK, so that the systems are compatible? We are not necessarily talking about different providers being chosen separately. I ask that question because I know from a former life on the Health and Sport Committee that different national health service boards chose different IT systems, which meant that they could not communicate, which is why health IT in Scotland is so bad.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Miles Briggs
On a wider issue with the Scottish digital strategy, on which you have all touched, are any local authorities likely to do something different, given the different contracts that we have discussed and how those sometimes stretch into other parts of our local government IT systems? Will the strategy resolve the issue and provide for a single system that allows communication not only with Government, but among local authorities?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Miles Briggs
That is helpful. I hope that, given the pressures on planning departments and in relation to access to planning specialists, there might be an opportunity for councils to share decision making and to share people who are in high demand for planning. There might be opportunities, there.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
Meeting date: 25 October 2022
Miles Briggs
Thank you.
