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 1215 contributions
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Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
It is a combination of policy and delivery, as you highlight. Sometimes in those areas, the distinction is perhaps not as clear. I do not know whether there is any detail that you want to add, Niall.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
It would be helpful if the committee were of one mind on the level of detail that it wants to be provided to it, with reference to what we already provide. I would be very happy to have that discussion and engagement.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
Yes.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
The way in which the reserve operates means that it is a facility to allow us to carry forward underspends from one financial year into the next. The nature of underspends is that they can emerge very late in the day. We saw particular examples of that during the pandemic, when late funding announcements were made and there was simply not the means to deliver on that expenditure prior to 1 April, so the reserve provides that facility.
The sources of funding for the reserve were set out in some detail. Niall, do you want to give more detail?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
That is an important point. It is about recognising that reserves are there for a purpose. They give bodies that have that facility a degree of flexibility that is commensurate with their roles and responsibilities. We recognise that, in the financial situation in which we find ourselves, that facility is available, which allows and assists us to manage the overall budget position. Of course, implicit in your argument is the idea that the continual use and depletion of reserves would clearly be a cause for concern. They are there for a purpose; there will have been a logic and rationale behind that facility being available. What we have set out in some of the specific items that we have discussed with an agency that has reserves reflects the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
Yes, and, as I said in reference to Creative Scotland, we have committed to the reinstatement of funding in future budgets that we have not been able to provide in the autumn budget revision.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
Our approach is not to set exact numbers or particular targets; the clear focus is on recognising the need to deliver services more efficiently, which means more shared services, more collaboration, and working across administrative and organisational boundaries. It also means looking at the disposition of our estate. All of those factors are in play, but key to this is a real focus on delivery and on ensuring that our public services do not just deliver services to meet the needs of people but are very much focused on a preventative agenda.
I recognise the committee’s interest in medium to longer-term fiscal sustainability, and opportunities to increase revenue—whether through tax or, in the medium term, economic growth—are going to be key. However, we know that we cannot meet that demand simply from increased revenue alone; we have to look at how we prevent that demand and avoid the risk of further demand emerging. It is about looking at how we reform our public services not just to meet the fiscal challenges that we face in the here and now but to deliver a more efficient and effective service that is focused on the preventative agenda. Embracing that approach is not about setting ourselves definite numbers for headcounts; instead, it is focused on those particular priorities and ensuring that we have a workforce that can meet that particular requirement.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
That is why I referred to our consideration of the presentation of the budget and why we have to take cognisance of the Verity house agreement as well.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
I want to highlight how that £2 million has been generated. There has been delivery of greater income streams through higher marine licensing fees. There are also more shared service arrangements and collaborative working, as part of a range of efficiency measures. That saving has been generated in a number of ways.
More generally, the decisions that we have to take as part of the budget revision process reflect changes that are taking place in-year. Indeed, the context in which all budget decisions will have to be taken is incredibly challenging—not just for the Scottish Government, but for the other devolved Administrations, too. It is among the most challenging since the reconvening of this Parliament nearly a quarter of a century ago. That means that we have to take difficult decisions to ensure that we can deliver our key priorities and meet the demands that emerge in-year, as I touched on, and to ensure that we can again deliver a balanced budget, as we have done consistently, previously.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
We are also working with partners, and we continue to engage with COSLA. We will continue to monitor the situation in-year and, based on our understanding to date, decisions will be taken in the budget on allocations for the next financial year. We of course remain absolutely committed to ensuring that we support those who have come from Ukraine to Scotland.
