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 1112 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I want clarification of something that was mentioned earlier. I will put this to Scott Mathieson and then Aileen McLeod. Scott talked about regulatory frameworks. My understanding is that Ofgem will set price controls that will regulate how much Scottish Power and SSE can spend on investment and innovation during a particular period. I understand that both transmission and distribution are in the regulated periods until 2028. What scope is there to alter your investment plans in response to changing circumstances, changing technologies and changing priorities during those regulated periods?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I am grateful. Aileen, would you like to add to that, or is your answer similar?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
Will you publish the evidence that you have collated that has led you to come to that conclusion?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
It is a brief question on the practicalities. Mercedes Villalba asked what I thought was a salient question on hospitality. As I understand it, Biffa is the only logistics operator in the scheme, so hospitality venues will be required to work with Biffa. Can you tell the committee why the contract was not put out to tender? In any event—and perhaps more crucially—what will happen to existing contracts that venues have with other waste management companies when Biffa takes over?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
For absolute clarity: you do not recognise the warning that 40 per cent of products could disappear.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I would like to take on some of the questions that we have just heard about funding and investment. In particular, the deputy convener brought up farming. I note that there is a commitment in the draft strategy to shifting half of all funding for farming and crofting from unconditional to conditional support by 2025. Minister, how much is half of all funding and what are the likely new conditions that farmers will have to meet? Is a lead time of presumably fewer than 18 months from finalisation long enough to allow farmers and crofters to adjust?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
The deputy convener’s questions are really pertinent. According to an ACS graphic that I saw recently, the suggestion seems to be that, if a retail outlet cannot afford a reverse vending machine or it has no space for one, it should put the returns in bins behind the counter. What if it has no space for that? What if it is in a rural area and therefore cannot apply for the exemptions that have been mentioned? Would that approach be right for the health and safety of staff?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
Good morning, minister. You said that the Scottish biodiversity strategy was published in draft form so that it could be updated following COP15 and the GBF. Now that we are beyond them, what areas in the draft strategy need to be strengthened as a result of the COP15 outcomes?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I am very grateful to you, convener, and to Mark Ruskell for letting me in.
One trade association has warned that around 40 per cent of products could disappear from shelves in Scotland. Does the Scottish Government recognise that as a possibility? Did that happen in other countries that you looked at? If so, is the Scottish Government making any moves, or can it do something to counteract that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I understand that, and I understand that it is a complex question, but it is part of the draft strategy, which I think is under your remit, minister. I therefore wonder, again, whether you are able—although perhaps it would be fairer to ask whether you are unable—to tell the committee at this stage what half of the funding is, what the conditions are, and whether there will be a substantial lead time despite the fact that it is in the draft biodiversity strategy. Is that the case?
