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 2298 contributions
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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Local Governance Review
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Miles Briggs
From what we have heard this morning, it sounds as though a lot of the work that is being undertaken is quite organic, so I want to ask about the specific role of community councils. What should be improved about their role, and how could their role be strengthened or changed? I suppose that I should start with Rona Mackay, as you are on the community council.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Local Governance Review
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Miles Briggs
What is COSLA’s understanding of the timetable for the future local governance review work? Do you think that that will be impacted by next year’s local government elections?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Local Governance Review
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Miles Briggs
In its programme for government, the Government set out two key bills—a local democracy bill and a community wealth building bill. What would COSLA like to see in those bills, and what discussions have you had on them so far?
During the passage of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, for example, we discussed the need for recognition of the role of local government. With regard to the views that COSLA has expressed on the proposed national care service, do you think that such a service might, by centralising some aspects of care, undermine the opportunity to give more powers to local democracy?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Local Governance Review
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Miles Briggs
I want to ask a few questions about the national care service. In several sessions, we heard concerns about the impact that the service would have on local governance. What impact have the Scottish Government’s proposals for a national care service had on the local governance review? COSLA has expressed concerns about the review’s wide proposals and the impact on local democracy.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Local Governance Review
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Miles Briggs
Good morning, everyone. What is your understanding of community wealth building? What are your views on the roles of what are being called anchor organisations, such as local housing associations, hospitals, colleges and universities? Let us start with Alison Macleod, because she outlined how her organisation benefited early on from other organisations supporting its establishment. If anyone else wants to speak, please put an R in the chat.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Local Governance Review
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Miles Briggs
I am interested in the responses that the cabinet secretary has given. We need to look at the cost of delivering services. I see through the eyes of an Edinburgh MSP, so I know the challenges that exist and the cost of living here in the capital. Per head of population, City of Edinburgh Council is the lowest-funded council and NHS Lothian is the lowest-funded health board.
Has there been any consideration of the cost of delivering services and of, for example, delivering an Edinburgh weighting? The council and the health board constantly report that delivering the workforce and providing services are fundamentally more expensive here in the capital, because of the cost of buying land and things such as that. Has the Government pursued any work on that?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 28 October 2021
Miles Briggs
Good morning. I will carry on that line of questioning. What work has been undertaken to identify those with the greatest unmet need? Specifically, has there been work with charities such as Children’s Hospices Across Scotland to see whether we can encourage people to come forward? I understand what the minister said about it being early days for this benefit, but is the Government actively looking at doing such work?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 28 October 2021
Miles Briggs
Thank you for that, but my line of questioning was more to do with those who might not currently be in receipt of benefits but who would benefit from this. It is, I think, a question about unmet need, and it might be useful if we reached out to those third sector organisations that are actively raising the issue with MSPs across the parties, to find out and scope how we can increase and extend potential uptake.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 October 2021
Miles Briggs
To ask the Scottish Government when work will commence to address congestion at the Sheriffhall roundabout. (S6O-00282)
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 27 October 2021
Miles Briggs
Transport Scotland has suggested that an inquiry could result in a six-year wait for a potential solution, which would end in 2027. That has caused disappointment. The project is of strategic importance to Edinburgh and the south-east of Scotland. Will the minister therefore consider making it a national strategic transport project? Will he agree to visit the junction with me to see the real need for investment in it as soon as possible?
