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 1502 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Before I hand back to the deputy convener, I remind the committee of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests as convener of the Parliament’s cross-party group on construction. I thought that it would be appropriate to mention that, as construction has been mentioned.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
On the back of Jackie Dunbar’s questions, I am keen to hear what the panel thinks about single-use nappies in the context of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill. We know that a small number of local authorities—North Ayrshire Council is the best example—offer a free-to-access reusable nappy scheme. That helps with environmental issues in reducing landfill and with the cost of living. Maybe that feeds into the behaviour change that Councillor Macgregor spoke about. Could the bill help to reduce reliance on single-use nappies, to develop the supply chain in Scotland, and to get the behaviour change that the panel is talking about?
I will go to colleagues in the room first. COSLA might then want to give a view on that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Yes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Okay. I am keen to go to Councillor Macgregor. Purchasing cloth or reusable nappies can be quite expensive for families, and I understand why people would go to a supermarket and buy the alternative. On the schemes that I am talking about, the North Ayrshire one is free for residents to access, and the council says that it is cost neutral because of the landfill cost savings. I understand that there is now a waiting list. It is encouraging that there is demand for those products, but local authorities are maybe struggling to keep up with that demand right now.
I am keen to bring in Councillor Macgregor.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Good morning, panel. Councillor Macgregor, you opened your remarks by saying that there are opportunities with this bill, and you mentioned the importance of co-design, implementation and strategy. With that in mind, I am keen to hear how else, aside from their obligations and role with regard to waste management, local authorities can contribute to a circular economy. Stephen Freeland touched on the economic side when he talked about jobs and local opportunities in that respect, but what other examples and opportunities do you see here? For me, planning and public procurement come to mind, but as far as the more granular co-design work is concerned, what other issues would you like to see covered in the bill?
I will bring in Councillor Macgregor first, but I am keen to hear from others.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Thank you. Silke Isbrand, do you want to add anything?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
No, I am happy to leave it.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Monica Lennon
Thank you. Does anyone else want to add to that? I have a brief supplementary question, but are there any other points on public procurement? I know that lots of challenges arise, particularly with regard to behavioural change, when we start to think of all of the aims of a circular economy. Could, say, procurement be a useful tool for local government? Is there anything else you want to add in that respect? Maybe Rhona Gunn can contribute, but if not, that is fine. I did not want to miss out anyone online—it is sometimes hard to see if people want to answer.
I will move on to the disposal of unsold goods. Have you seen in your provision of services to businesses any evidence of unsold goods being disposed of? Perhaps Stephen Freeland or Drew Murdoch could come in at this point.
