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 1064 contributions
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Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Yes, a bit like Laurel and Hardy—?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Considering the responses that we have had from the Government, I suggest that we write to the Minister for Energy and the Environment to recommend that guidance is produced to clarify how falconers can practise in licensed activities; the areas in which there is not a high density of mountain hare; and what action to take if a bird accidentally takes a mountain hare.
I also suggest that we write to Police Scotland to ask how reports of mountain hare being taken in areas of low density will be recorded and how that information will be shared with NatureScot and falconers.
Further, I suggest that we write to NatureScot to ask how it will monitor reports from Police Scotland and whether it will work to produce maps for falconers to indicate which areas are considered suitable for birds of prey to fly within. If NatureScot intends to produce maps, we could ask how it intends to evaluate and update the information in the light of reports from Police Scotland.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
I ask the committee to consider writing to the University of Glasgow, seeking further information about the evaluation of the equally safe at school strategy, as noted in Rape Crisis Scotland’s submission, including details about the scope of the evaluation and its expected timescale for reporting. We could also write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to ask for an update on the work of the gender equality task force in education and learning to establish what educational resources exist that cover gender inequality. The committee could also ask for an indication of what the task force’s next steps will be when it completes its work.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
On the evidence before us, convener, we have no option but to close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government has stated that it does not support an additional fast-track route specifically for people with cancer, because its approach will not prioritise any single condition over another.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Considering the responses that we have received and, as you mentioned, the progress that we have made, would the committee consider closing the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the uptake of BSL awards at SCQF level 3 to 6 is increasing; the number of primary schools providing BSL as an L3 language is also increasing; the Scottish Government does not believe that the steps that the petition seeks are required; and it has consulted on the British Sign Language national plan for 2023 to 2029?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Thank you, convener—
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Good morning, minister and panel members. Is the Scottish Government considering amending section 66 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to remove the need for a young person to still be in care on their 16th birthday to access support and to remove the age limit of 26 for accessing aftercare?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Given the Scottish Government’s stance, yes. I wonder whether the committee would consider closing the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government has no plans to write off previous student loans for those who commenced their paramedic science degree before the introduction of the bursary in 2021.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
In light of the evidence that we have, the committee could close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government has committed to reviewing the law on abortion to ensure that it is, first and foremost, a healthcare matter rather than one of criminal law, and that it intends to publish proposals for reform before the end of the current parliamentary session in 2026. If that approach is agreed, I would remind the petitioner that they are entitled to bring the petition back to the committee if the Scottish Government does not do that.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 8 November 2023
David Torrance
Thank you. I will probably get the same answer for this question, as well. Will the Scottish Government consider amending regulations to increase eligibility for continued care beyond 21 years?
