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 1555 contributions
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Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Okay. It was just the term that you used. I wanted to give you the chance to explain what you have just explained.
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Finally, is everyone in favour of legal representation for victims?
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Thank you.
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Thank you.
You also said that the jury is not there to find the truth, that it is for the legal system to prove the offence and that, if it does not, it is a failing of the Crown. Do you understand why victims feel crushed and let down by a not proven verdict? They feel that the system is weighted against them and in favour of the accused, for the reasons that you have outlined. Many witnesses have said to us that they would much rather have had a not guilty verdict than a not proven verdict, because they are left in limbo.
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Why would that be? I know that that must be laid down somewhere, but do you think that it is fair that nobody knows?
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Obviously, it is not to identify people, but even having the numbers would be at least some information.
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
I have a short supplementary question on the conviction rate in sexual offence cases. Laura, will the Lord Advocate’s recent ruling that distress can be used as evidence have an impact on the conviction rates?
Criminal Justice Committee
Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 13 December 2023
Rona Mackay
Thank you. That is helpful.
Meeting of the Parliament
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (75th Anniversary)
Meeting date: 12 December 2023
Rona Mackay
I thank my friend and colleague Kaukab Stewart for bringing this debate to the Parliament and congratulate her on her long-standing commitment to upholding human rights for all. I am delighted to take part in the debate.
On 10 December 1948, the general assembly of the United Nations announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets out 30 rights and freedoms that belong to all of us. As we observe the world that we live in today, with war, poverty, famine and injustice, it is plain that, for far too many people, those rights are not being upheld. However, seven decades on, those rights continue to form the basis for all international human rights law and are a vital code that we should follow in a civilised society, because without that, people have no protection and no access to justice, and more misery and cruelty will ensue.
The 75th anniversary of the declaration is an opportunity for the Scottish Parliament to reaffirm its commitment to furthering human rights protections for everyone in Scotland. The Scottish Government’s aim is to create a legal framework for us to embed international human rights within domestic law and drive transformative and positive change for people, empowering them to claim their rights. Last week, we passed landmark legislation to incorporate the rights of the child under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in everything that we do. In my book, that was a great day to be in Scotland’s Parliament, exercising our duty as elected members to bring forward that vital legislation, which has long been fought for by campaigners and third sector organisations, to benefit all children and young people in Scotland.
People in Scotland face challenges to their human rights every day, whether those relate to gender-based violence, disability, race or religion. We must promote equality and eliminate bigotry and discrimination, because they are an attack on all of us. Every day, we as MSPs try to help constituents to gain access to their basic rights in social care, to safe and secure housing, or to essential healthcare.
The human rights bill that is proposed for introduction by June next year will be a momentous occasion for our nation. We should, of course, learn from the problems that have been encountered with the induction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. We should possibly establish an implementation programme that is similar to that which has accompanied the passage of that bill, and minimise any reliance on UK acts.
We have amazing organisations that have been at the forefront of protecting human rights for decades. One such organisation is Amnesty International. It reminds us that we need only look to the very recent UK Supreme Court judgment on the UK Government’s Rwanda deal, which drew attention to that country’s terrible human rights record, to see that human rights defenders face dangerous challenges. Speeches in our earlier debate powerfully highlighted the abuse that asylum seekers face.
The 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a chance to pay homage to those who used their power during struggles for liberation and equality the world over. Their struggle was against colonialism and bigotry, and for equality; against patriarchy, and for gender justice; and for a world of greater dignity for all members of the human family.
Scotland has an opportunity to show leadership, and 2024 will be a year for politicians of all parties to take the next step in making human rights a reality in Scotland by supporting a new human rights bill. The legislation has the potential to be transformative for people in Scotland by obligating public bodies to uphold a much wider range of rights. Our overarching priority is to ensure that incorporation is led by, and results in, tangible improvements for individuals and communities—especially those who face the greatest barriers to the enjoyment of rights and those whose rights are most at risk.
Scotland is a compassionate and caring nation. Human rights have always been at the forefront of our society, and we now have the opportunity to build on that.
17:21Meeting of the Parliament
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (75th Anniversary)
Meeting date: 12 December 2023
Rona Mackay
I am struggling to understand the relevance to the motion of what the member is saying. I am sorry, but it is, frankly, bizarre.
