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 2149 contributions
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Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
My question is for Cecilia Oram. I had a quick look at the Sustrans toolkits for creating better spaces. Safety is mentioned where it relates to reducing the speed of cars, but the toolkits do not seem to mention safety in the context of protection of and support for women. That does not seem to be mentioned in the information and the toolkits that you provide, or am I just missing it?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
I remember that there was an advert on the telly showing people playing wheelchair rugby and, at the end of the game, an able-bodied person who was joining in stood up. Able-bodied people joining in and playing the game with siblings is something that can happen—maybe the need to highlight that is a question for the media folks when they come in front of us as well.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
It might be a question for just Kirsty Garrett or Patrick Murphy. It is about wheelchair rugby. Rugby is becoming something that everybody plays; it is becoming important for women to take up, for example. Wheelchair rugby is quite a leveller because disabled folk can play with non-disabled folk and you can have mixed-gender teams as well. Is that something that is growing or can be pursued in order to level the playing field and encourage folk?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Scrutiny of NHS Boards (NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Borders and NHS Forth Valley)
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
Sure—I will be quick. I have two questions, but we could park for later the question about the use of the long Covid pathway, rather than the long Covid clinics that have been established in the NHS Borders area. I am interested in knowing about the best way to look after long Covid patients.
The other issue goes back to what Ralph Roberts said on Friday, which was that making progress on recovery has required working with registered social landlords to look at housing and wider aspects of supporting people in order to practise reablement. We do not use that word a lot, but it simply means supporting people to get the best care and to get them home. Is that part of what you are doing to make progress on recovery?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
Thanks.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
No—I am okay, convener.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
I know. It used to be called murder ball and now it is wheelchair rugby.
Meeting of the Parliament
Secondary Education (Vocational and Technical Qualifications)
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
I welcome the debate and have enjoyed listening members’ contributions. The benefits of the Scottish Government’s significant investment in young people are evident, thanks to the developing the young workforce strategy and the young persons guarantee.
In 2021-22, a record number—95.7 per cent—of school leavers were progressing their studies or careers within three months of leaving school. Youth employment and vocational qualifications are one part of the Government’s strong and demonstrable track record of achievements in education. That record speaks for itself, but I will focus on vocational qualifications in our rural sector, the jobs of the future and the skilled green jobs that we need to protect our future in terms of the climate emergency.
I think that I am the only member to mention rural skills so far in the debate. I think that they are really important. The Scottish vocational qualification in agriculture at SCQF level 5 provides learners with the knowledge and skills that they need for agricultural work with crops or livestock. The SVQ covers areas such as monitoring and maintaining health, safety and security, developing an awareness of environmental good practice, and how to manage and improve the rural business environment. It also includes optional units on topics such as preparing and operating farm vehicles, preparing feed and water supplies for livestock, and monitoring and maintaining the healthy growth of crops. Upon successful completion, learners will gain an internationally recognised qualification that guarantees that they have the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required to carry out their roles successfully. Rural employers will also benefit from their employees being proficient in the skill set required.
Last year, I joined Tracey McEwan at Tarff Valley Ltd in Ringford in Dumfries and Galloway and at a dairy farm near Gelston, along with careers advisers from the local secondary schools. Tracey and the team explained and demonstrated to the careers advisers what rural employment opportunities are available to young people across Dumfries and Galloway. The feedback from the insight day was extremely valuable.
Young people take part in courses such as the one that I described at Tarff. They cover a range of mentor-supported topics and complete on-farm direct workplace assessments to show competence in specific tasks. Tarff also offers pre-apprenticeship programmes that allow young people of school age to be supported in their placement by a mentor who helps to prepare them for work.
The apprenticeship programmes are really important in getting people into agriculture, particularly as the sector has an ageing workforce. The sector is absolutely vital for our nation’s food security, especially given the current economic and Brexit challenges that it faces. I therefore ask the cabinet secretary and the minister always to keep rural skills and rural education at the forefront of on-going education and skills work.
I turn to green skills. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, we must build a fairer economy that delivers the skills, opportunities and jobs for the future that will help to secure our just transition to net zero and tackle the climate emergency. Scotland is already investing in green skills and attracting new green job opportunities.
The launch of the green jobs workforce academy is a welcome step in preparing our current and future workforce to seize the opportunities afforded to Scotland as part of the just transition to net zero. The academy, supporting people across multiple locations and online, is guiding people of all ages through a process of identifying the skills that they have and the skills that they will need to find and secure green jobs for the future. I am keen to see that the south of Scotland plays a part in that green skills strategy.
Recently, I visited the Hawick campus of Scottish Borders College, where I saw first hand the work that the college is doing to support people into green skills jobs and to upskill those who are already in the sector. It is leading vocational courses on building properties to passive house standard, installing ground source heat pumps and electric charging infrastructure, and solar panel installation and repair. However, one of the limitations that the college related to me is that the funding model to get those courses up and running is restrictive and if it wanted to offer them to pupils in school, the funding would not support it. Therefore, I ask the minister whether he would be open to meeting me and Scottish Borders College to discuss the specific funding issues that were highlighted during my visit last Monday.
It would also be remiss of me not to mention the work of Dumfries and Galloway College. The Stranraer and Dumfries campuses both support green skills, particularly in the wind turbine engineering sector, and I commend the work that they are doing.
I could probably expand a little but I prepared a shorter speech expecting that some folk would intervene, especially because I am the only person talking about rural skills, which are an absolute necessity for us in Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament
Secondary Education (Vocational and Technical Qualifications)
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
I thank Meghan Gallacher for that intervention. It is important that we gather data in many different ways, so data on 12 months-plus—longer-term data—would be valuable. It is useful that we explore how we manage the data and then what we do with it.
The Scottish Government has succeeded in achieving its goal to reduce youth unemployment by 40 per cent after actively pursuing the DYW youth employment strategy. Building on that, the Government is continuing to expand the opportunities that are available to young people. I repeat that agriculture and green skills have a crucial role to play in that.
Meeting of the Parliament
Secondary Education (Vocational and Technical Qualifications)
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
What you are talking about is making me think about what is happening locally in Dumfries and Galloway, where businesses—Jas P Wilson in Dalbeattie is one of them—are engaging with schools and the kids are being valued for choosing whatever path they want, which might not be university; it might be vocational skills. Would you agree that there is work being done out there that is exactly what you have been on your feet, gaun on aboot for the past few minutes?
