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 2274 contributions
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Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
Okay. Thank you.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
Good morning, everybody. I am interested in how we compare with other countries that have introduced minimum unit pricing. I know that Canada, Wales and Ireland have done so. I have in front of me a World Health Organization report that talks about how we are reducing alcohol deaths by introducing minimum unit pricing.
What work has Public Health Scotland done to look at other countries? Canada introduced MUP in 2014. Is there something that we can learn from other people?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
Good morning, panel. I am interested in the secure care standards and pathways. I have just read that there are 44 standards that describe care that should be delivered with dignity, compassion, sensitivity and respect and in a person-centred way, in the sense that children make their decisions but with the involvement of everybody in the team. How do the regulations intersect with the secure care pathway and standards, and should the standards be referenced in the regulations?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
We talk a lot about helping to deliver the aims of the Promise. How does that align with what is being proposed for the work at Foxgrove? That work is in addition to the secure care pathway, and it is also delivering the outcomes of the Promise.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
I will make a short comment. The regulations introduce a brand new facility for Scotland. It will be the only specialist adolescent in-patient service in Scotland, and I look forward to its progress. Because it is a completely new facility, I would be interested in the committee continuing to get further information by correspondence or face to face as the matter progresses so that we can inquire about operational issues and the facility’s effectiveness.
Meeting of the Parliament
Mental Health
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a registered general nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The vision for mental health rightly has a focus on promoting positive wellbeing. Across remote and rural Scotland, many people—particularly older people—experience social isolation and loneliness. Will the minister provide an update on how the plan will seek to tackle loneliness and isolation, particularly in remote and rural areas such as Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders?
Meeting of the Parliament
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
The member mentioned that the only time that ferries are in the news is when there is an issue to do with CalMac. Does he not remember when P&O Ferries sacked its workers? That is a private company.
Meeting of the Parliament
Rural Estates (Wellbeing Economy)
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
I do. I seek clarification on whether the member has got a school or a pub.
Meeting of the Parliament
Rural Estates (Wellbeing Economy)
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
I thank Scottish Land & Estates for the helpful briefing for the debate and for the work that it does to support Scotland’s estates, which play a crucial role in Scottish society and the wellbeing of our nation. I congratulate Finlay Carson on securing the debate—it is really important that we are here to discuss the issue. I give a peedie mention to the fact that I am co-convener of the cross-party group on wellbeing economy, as well as co-convener of the cross-party group on rural policy with my colleague Edward Mountain.
Given that Scotland’s 1,125 rural estates cover a combined 4.1 million hectares—around 57 per cent of Scotland’s rural land—those who are familiar with the sector are well aware of its contribution to the Scottish economy and society. It is important that we highlight that as good news. However, outwith the sector, the contribution is not well recognised or widely understood. I want to touch on some of my engagement with estates across Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders on the important role that they play in supporting our rural communities, rural economies and in promoting and protecting biodiversity and wellbeing.
Rural estates generate an estimated £2.4 billion each year and support thousands of jobs, as has been mentioned by members. That makes a significant contribution to Scotland’s economic growth—an important indicator of economic progress—but it is an even more important contribution to Scotland’s rural communities. I welcome the fact that many of Scotland’s rural estates—around 64 per cent—pay staff at a wage that is on average equivalent to or higher than the national living wage.
Meeting of the Parliament
Rural Estates (Wellbeing Economy)
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Emma Harper
Yes, if the member is quick, because every time he stands up, he makes a speech.
