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 1882 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
Meeting date: 14 December 2021
Monica Lennon
Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
Meeting date: 14 December 2021
Monica Lennon
I was waiting for broadcasting to move to Colin Pritchard. I have one more question for the panel after that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
Meeting date: 14 December 2021
Monica Lennon
Good morning. Some of the biggest supporters of carbon capture, utilisation and storage also support developing new oilfields such as Cambo and maximising the economic recovery of oil and gas. How do you respond to people’s concerns that reliance on the fossil fuel industry for carbon management will delay the just transition away from those fuels?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Covid-19
Meeting date: 14 December 2021
Monica Lennon
NHS Lanarkshire declared a code black 53 days ago. Staff are exhausted and they fear a trickle of omicron cases, never mind a tsunami of infections. What more will the Government do to support staff and patients in Lanarkshire, including chronic pain patients such as Liz Barrie, who has already waited for 21 months for a steroid injection that she, and many others, should be getting twice a year?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 December 2021
Monica Lennon
That engagement is important. Wet wipes have been mentioned already. Last week, I asked the minister about them and what other items might be covered by future restrictions. You quoted a figure of 94 per cent of the public being in favour of a ban on wet wipes, so it looks as though the public is way ahead of the Government on this issue. What more does Zero Waste Scotland think could be done to minimise the use of single-use wet wipes? When should the Government in Scotland look at the issue again and add them to the list of restricted items?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 December 2021
Monica Lennon
What we have heard so far is quite encouraging, in the sense that businesses are already engaging and are prepared. As we have heard, Scotland is not a first mover on some of the issues, so we know that we can learn from practice elsewhere.
Zero Waste Scotland has been involved with disability organisations, including Inclusion Scotland, which has made a written submission. As a result, we know about the plastic straws advisory group, which I will ask Iain Gulland about in a second.
Jim Fox highlighted the example of Capri-Sun, which I am sure many of us, especially those with small children, will be familiar with. With regard to the targeted exemptions, someone who buys a Capri-Sun in a cafe or a place where they will be sitting in might request a straw, which for those cartons is quite narrow and little. What is the expectation on businesses with regard to having a range of straws to meet people’s requests? We understand that, under the request system, to avoid any stigma, employees will not be able to ask people why they need a straw. Will businesses have to look at the issue in a lot of detail, or can they just have one plastic straw in the cupboard?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 December 2021
Monica Lennon
Thank you for that clarification.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 December 2021
Monica Lennon
But you might have to now.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 December 2021
Monica Lennon
It is essential that the disability and equality issues are considered.
Iain Gulland of Zero Waste Scotland has probably had more direct involvement with this matter, so I would be interested to hear about the level of guidance that will be required on the targeted exemptions. Someone who requests a straw will not have to give a big explanation for doing so, but they might not have their own cup handy and might therefore feel at a disadvantage. Can you comment on that, Iain, given Zero Waste Scotland’s close involvement in the plastic straws advisory group?
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 2 December 2021
Monica Lennon
For all of us who have lost a loved one in a care home during the pandemic, Anne’s law will come too late. It will also come too late for my constituent, Anne Duke, who was the inspiration behind the campaign. Loneliness and isolation continue to impact on the quality of life of many care home residents, despite the open with care policy on visiting. Can the First Minister reassure people that the Anne’s law consultation report is still on track to be published this month? When will the Government deliver its promise on Anne’s law?
