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 成人快手 and committees will automatically update to show only the 成人快手 and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of 成人快手 and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of 成人快手 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 1071 contributions
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Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
I would need to come back to you in writing with that figure in light of the estimate that the chief executive issued last September.
Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
We took that decision as the Government, yes.
Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
Yes. When I provide in writing the timeline of the process before issuing written authority on 14 May, it will become clear that sufficient rigour was given to interrogate that. I ensured that we had looked at all possible permutations of the cost analysis to ensure that I was confident that the process was rigorous and that it had been carried out fully and appropriately, not just within the Government but with our external advisers. We considered all possible permutations, and I was confident that that was the right thing to do.
Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
There is an on-going process of interaction with the management at the yard to ensure that everything possible is being done to keep costs to a minimum. Obviously, decisions have been made on the design of the ships that have contributed a significant amount to the additional costs, and they have been part of your deliberations over a long period of time. We continue to have discussions with management at the yard to make sure that everything possible is being done to minimise costs and that cost control measures are in place.
Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
My predecessors in my portfolio, transport portfolios and others have made themselves more than available in the inquiry that has been conducted in this case. They can, obviously, speak for themselves on the decisions that they have taken. However, my overriding concern is to ensure that we complete the vessels as quickly, timeously and cost effectively as possible. That is what island communities deserve and it is one of the most important elements in my portfolio. I will keep pushing as hard as possible to ensure the timeous and cost-effective delivery of the vessels.
Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
Hmm.
Public Audit Committee
Written Authority: Completion of Vessel 802
Meeting date: 22 June 2023
Neil Gray
I have set out why I cannot publish it. There will be a debate about that鈥攁nd you, convener, will perhaps hold a different view on it than I do鈥攂ut I am not willing to put the yard at a competitive disadvantage or jeopardise its ability to compete for future orders.
The work that Teneo did went into a substantial amount of detail. It worked with the yard to ensure that all potential permutations on risks to the contract were considered, particularly on 802. It was able to give advice off the back of that. The work involved more than just looking at numbers on a spreadsheet or comparing costs; it examined the processes that are in place at the yard. It is well recognised that Teneo is an international expert in the field, and the advice that it has provided has given me assurance that I was able to take the correct decision in issuing written authority to see the completion of 801 and 802.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Scottish Government Policy Priorities (Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy)
Meeting date: 10 May 2023
Neil Gray
I am happy to take the question and perhaps respond in writing, convener.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Scottish Government Policy Priorities (Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy)
Meeting date: 10 May 2023
Neil Gray
Clear damage has been done to Scotland鈥檚 economy by decisions that have been taken that were outwith our control. Brexit has had a major impact on Scotland鈥檚 economy鈥攊ts impact has been greater than that of the Covid pandemic. The UK Government鈥檚 mini budget, which was delivered by Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss, has also had a devastating impact.
The key risks to Scotland鈥檚 economy come from areas that are outwith our control. We are doing what we can to mitigate those by providing increased business support and by looking at where we can maximise growth and job opportunities鈥攆or example, through the entrepreneurial tech scalers network that I mentioned.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Scottish Government Policy Priorities (Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy)
Meeting date: 10 May 2023
Neil Gray
The better Ferguson performs, the more likely it is to return to private ownership. If interested parties come forward to talk to the Government or our agencies, we will take that interest seriously and do what we can to ensure that the yard is returned to private ownership as quickly as possible, as a commercial going concern.
