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 3061 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
Yes, so that money has not been taken from the just transition fund, which is a separate fund that is focused on the north-east and Moray.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
Here is my answer: yes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
We are at a critical moment for various parts of the energy sector when it comes to the supply chain. Supply chain order books show that the energy supply chain is still mostly servicing oil and gas. However, as we know, there has been a steady decrease in oil and gas operations, while renewables operations, particularly in offshore and onshore wind, are ramping up.
For the offshore wind supply chain, we know that, as a result of the licensing round for ScotWind, there will be an enormous boost in activity as the innovation and targeted oil and gas—INTOG—projects take shape and get their consents and the ScotWind licences take hold. We have to make sure that the offshore wind supply chain—I would actually say the energy supply chain—is able to ramp up its activities and prepare for the orders that it will have, and that it does so in such a way that it can perhaps pivot some of its activities to what is required for offshore wind. Quite a lot of supply chain companies will probably be servicing contracts for oil and gas, as well as for renewables, for decades to come. We are trying to make sure that they have the support to be able to pivot. Some companies might have to increase their capacity, because they will be serving oil and gas as well as opening up opportunities for offshore wind.
We are tripling the capital funding for offshore wind to £150 million, which will stimulate private investment as well. I will give an example of how that works in terms of the supply chain. We and our overseas agencies did a lot of work in attracting Sumitomo to build its high-voltage direct current—or HDVC—cable in the Cromarty Firth. That is the result of work that was done to put in the right conditions but also of having the right initial funding to attract a big company to Scotland. We are very pleased that that has been done.
We have also committed to a £500 million strategic investment to leverage additional private investment of £1.5 billion to the offshore wind supply chain. The Government’s commitment to that sector is already prompting private companies to come together to, in effect, pledge money for additional infrastructure. As a result of the work that we have been doing through the Scottish offshore wind energy council and the strategic investment model, billions of pounds have been pledged, because companies are seeing that the Government is committing money. That money is not just a Government investment in the supply chain, but a prompting of additional investment from private resources.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
The supply chain is about an awful lot more than manufacturing. Manufacturing is a part of it, but there is innovation, too. Traditionally, Scotland has always been very good at innovating with technologies, particularly in its subsea work. For example, we are innovating with floating offshore wind developments, and that will be an exportable skill. Once we have completed our ScotWind developments, you will see other countries looking to Scotland to see what we have done with floating offshore wind. As with oil and gas in the 1980s, Scottish engineers and innovators will be going all over the world to help other countries with that technology. It is not just about manufacturing; it is about skills and innovation, too. The supply chain is about an awful lot more than that.
However, I agree that there is absolutely a space for more manufacturing in Scotland. I point out that, as part of the onshore wind sector deal, we pledged to have a blade remanufacturing plant in Scotland. Therefore, there is not just manufacturing, but the remanufacturing of materials in Scotland. Those are all important components.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
The aim is to deliver a yes or no decision on a consent application within 52 weeks.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
The aim is 52 weeks.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
That is why we are increasing the budget to £150 million, which is a tripling of the activity that the monies have done up to now. That tripling will prompt the kind of things that Mr Matheson described as ambitions.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I do not agree that it is slow. I would say that we are probably oversubscribed with the number of projects that want just transition funding. Being a north-easter, I have had the pleasure of visiting quite a lot of projects, including those that have been successful in getting just transition funding.
Other work has also been done. There has been investment in the green hydrogen hub and in the Net Zero Technology Centre. There has been other investment that has not come directly from the just transition fund but that has had a just transition effect.
The just transition fund supported projects as well as a participatory budgeting section, which went out to third sector partner organisations that invited applications from small community groups, for example. At the moment, my officials and I are trying to assess the outcomes of the £75 million that was spent, so that we ensure that the money that is going out from the just transition fund has positive outcomes associated with it and targets the areas where we need intervention in terms of a just transition—that relates to the basis of your question. We have been doing that work over the past year, and it will inform the detail of the next allocation round.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
All funds are oversubscribed, but there are certain projects that do not have the right criteria in the way that others do, so you have to make a judgment—you cannot just give out public money without that assessment.
There is a great deal of interest in the fund, and I am delighted to say that we are reopening the fund this year. We are looking at the criteria for the fund and where we might want to target it.
Next year’s allocation might be different, based on what happens this year. However, as far as I am concerned, the £500 million just transition fund is an extremely important tool for the north-east and Moray, and it shows our commitment to an energy transition that is happening principally in those areas.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
ACVO. Thank you very much. We are working with them to get that analysis.
I have done quite a lot of visits and talked to people who have been involved in participatory budgeting. A great example is what has been done with a disused bowling green in the city centre, where there is now a climate cafe that makes available its own fruit and vegetables. I highly recommend that you visit it. Those things have had an impact on not just the climate, but the community. I want to take that into account, too.
