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
Can we confirm that in writing to the committee?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I was concerned.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
No, because the free allocations militate against that. I am talking about the particular instrument that we are discussing today, which is designed to close a loophole through which operators who have ceased production would benefit from a scheme in which they would have free allocations that would not be used by the operation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I will not comment any more on Jim Ratcliffe’s comments—he has a particular view and he has made that clear to the UK Government and in the press.
The ETS was set up with a provision for those high-emitting sectors to have free allocations. There was an acknowledgement that they should have free allocations, because there will always be some sectors that find it harder to decarbonise than others do. The ETS is there to ensure that there is not carbon leakage. That is all I really have to say on that. If we did not have systems like that in place and there were no free allocations, we would offshore our emissions.
The purpose of the instrument is to ensure that companies do not profit from the ETS when they are not operating.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
We have not carried out a full impact assessment, because there is no regulatory provision for that to be done. The impact of changes to permanent cessation rules on businesses was published in November 2024 in an analytical annex to the initial authority response to the free allocation review consultation. You will be able to find the detail of the analysis in that document.
The main purpose of the instrument is to ensure that plants and operations that cease production do not have a valuable free allocation once the plant is no longer operational. There has been a lot of criticism of the potential for that situation to occur, as it would mean that operators that cease operations could profit from the free allocation. There has been a lot of criticism of that loophole in wider society and, indeed, in the media.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I am basing that on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s projections. The cabinet secretary has said that we are working to fully reduce the £160 million by the end of this financial year.
As far as ScotWind funding is concerned, that is a discussion that we had ahead of the budget. None of us wanted to use it for anything other than investing in legacy infrastructure, improving the lives of people in Scotland, investing in long-term projects, reducing our emissions and ensuring just transition—all the things that I have mentioned. The assumed usage of £424 million has reduced to £160 million, and we are working to reduce it fully by the end of this financial year—
It says “the financial year” in my notes. Does that mean this financial year?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I think that you are referring to the global climate emergency programme board.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
Thank you, convener, and good morning to everyone. Today, I am providing evidence on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2025, which is an instrument to amend the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020.
As you are aware, emissions trading scheme participants must purchase an allowance for each tonne of CO2 emitted. However, some allowances are given for free to sectors that are at risk of carbon leakage, which is when emissions are offshored. Those free allowances are currently the main policy tool to mitigate that risk.
The Scottish Government, as part of the emissions trading scheme authority, is reviewing the free allocations policy. Between December 2023 and March 2024, we jointly consulted other UK nations on proposals to adjust the free allocations policy to better support sectors at risk of carbon leakage. Among the proposals were changes to free allocation rules when operators permanently cease activities of a sub-installation, which are the amendments contained in today’s instrument.
I will present the changes that we propose to make. Currently, sub-installations that permanently cease activities can retain their free allowances for the final year of operation. However, that can result in overallocation of allowances, unintentionally allowing businesses to profit from the emissions trading scheme. Therefore, the instrument introduces new rules to ensure that businesses do not receive more free allowances than they are entitled to after permanently ceasing activities; that operators investing in decarbonisation are not penalised; and that gaps in the definition of permanent cessations are addressed to prevent inconsistencies in its application.
In practice, the changes to the rules would mean that operators that are permanently ceasing activities will report emissions for the final year, allowing regulators to align free allocations with actual emissions and reclaim overallocated allowances.
To support decarbonisation efforts, an exemption will apply to operators whose sub-installations permanently cease activities as part of changes that materially reduce the carbon intensity of production, such as electrification of plants, thereby ensuring that the free allocations policy effectively supports decarbonisation efforts.
The instrument also updates the definition of permanent cessations, particularly addressing situations in which temporary cessations become permanent, to ensure clarity and consistency in the allocation process.
It is important to note that, once the instrument comes into force, changes will apply to all operators. The new rules are designed to ensure fairness and accuracy in free allocation distribution, ensuring that support is targeted to those sectors that are at risk of carbon leakage. I am happy to answer any questions.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
If your sums are correct, yes. The numbers that I have given you that are in front of me are the £75 million that has been spent already and this year’s allocation of £15.9 million.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Budget Scrutiny 2025-26
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
Bonnymuir. Thank you.
