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
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
It will be late summer, but the committee heard last week that we have less than seven years to meet the targets. We are obviously talking about delivery plans. Following Jackie Dunbar’s questions, something that concerns me is that we surely cannot meaningfully make delivery plans unless the strategy is finalised.
Also, minister, you listed a huge number of impressive Scottish Government investments in biodiversity. However, there is no strategy underlying the investment, and there will not be one for at least another six months. I could reflect back to you that that means that you are funding a load of things without a strategy for why you are funding them. Is that a fair criticism, minister?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I will stick with funding. Framework target 19 requires a significant upscaling of finance for biodiversity, and it talks about “leveraging private finance”. Part of the draft strategy is an investment plan. Will that plan be produced, consulted on and finalised in the timeframe that we heard about earlier in which the delivery plan and the strategy will be finalised? Matthew Bird might answer that question.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
Mr Bird, I will press you on “broadly”. Earlier, you told me—I cannot remember your precise words—that the delivery plan and the strategy are being consulted on in the spring and summer and will be finalised around the autumn. The investment plan is very much a part of the strategy, so will it be concluded in the same timeframe or is it likely to slip?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
Will you commit to publishing it, minister? Alternatively, could you come back to me with an answer as to whether it will be published and, if so, when?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
Very briefly, what interest rate will that bridging loan be subject to?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I would like to follow up both an earlier question from the convener and the one that he has just asked. The convener talked earlier about the cost of a basket—that is, the cost of shopping. We know that the DRS could add up to, let us say, 40p per unit. Given the cost of living crisis and the increase in the cost of the weekly shopping, has the Government investigated or done any research on the impact that the scheme might have on inflation?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
I want to be clear, because I asked you a very direct question. From what you are saying—you looked around the world at what was happening elsewhere—the Scottish Government knew that small retailers would be disproportionately impacted and that some businesses’ viability would be threatened.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
So you did not do that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
When do you expect the strategy and delivery plans to be finalised?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Liam Kerr
The particular private finance deal that NatureScot has signed—I think that it is around woodland and is worth up to £2 billion—is a very interesting model. Quite rightly, the minister talks about the need for £20 billion of private investment for forestry and woodlands. Can we leverage private investment for what we need for heat in buildings? Given the interest in that model, when does the minister intend to publish the full detail that underlies the deal, so that we can see exactly what private investors are getting out of the deal and whether it is applicable at scale and in other areas?
