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.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
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.
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.
There are two types of keyword search:
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.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
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:
If you search by an individual session, the list of łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees will automatically update to show only the łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of łÉČËżěĘÖ 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.
Displaying 1231 contributions
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
I find it difficult. I have tried to reassure the committee that the matter would be looked at in the best interests of all the children and young people involved. Equally, for those very serious offences, it would be a matter for the Lord Advocate to consider where that should be dealt with and the outcome of that. I hear the concerns that are being raised and I will certainly take them forward in further consideration of the bill.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Again, Mr Rennie, that is being considered as part of the stage 2 deliberations. I have alluded to the fact that I want to see information shared with victims—striking the right balance—when it relates to their safety. If the sharing of information could help victims’ situations or improve their safety, I would absolutely want to see that. I do not think that I can go into more detail about the whos and the whats, because we have not reached the point of stage 2 amendments. These are still live discussions and considerations.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Absolutely.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
I cannot get into stage 2 amendments at this stage; that would be for stage 2.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
As I alluded, a host of work has been going on over the summer. We have been working with the key agencies and stakeholders who will be involved in the implementation of the bill and how it transpires. That issue is under consideration, and, if further support is required, it will be given once the bill commences.
I am not sure whether Brendan Rooney has anything to add.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
That was really disappointing, but I am still positive. There is more than enough time in hand for the national convener and Children’s Hearings Scotland to act to improve the recruitment and retention picture both in the short term and over the next important period of change. A substantial number of people still came forward although, admittedly, it did not meet the target. I will be working with Children’s Hearings Scotland to see what actions it will be taking and what it will be following that up with to ensure that any solutions are progressed in good time with regard to the bill’s progression.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Do you mean the costings for salaried chairs?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
We do not have a cost for those just now because, as I said, all the recommendations are being considered and the Government will respond before the end of the year. It is not likely that any actions that are taken based on the recommendations will be implemented straight away. Some of them would require legislation. It is likely that a Promise bill will come to Parliament, and it is very likely that some of the recommendations will need to be encapsulated in that in order to be taken through.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
Yes. Although I obviously cannot foresee what will happen with this bill, if it goes through stages 2 and 3, it is likely that the provisions will be commenced before the recommendations can be implemented. They will need to be actioned at a later date.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 November 2023
Natalie Don-Innes
As I said to Mr Kerr, I am still positive about the children’s hearings system. I think that there is more than enough time in hand, and it has always risen to challenges before. I do not believe that the positive material that I have gone through and that Children’s Hearings Scotland gave the committee at and after stage 1 is redundant just because of a single disappointing panel recruitment campaign or the evidence that the committee heard last week. I believe that the system can come back and bolster recruitment.
Short-term actions are already under way. Children’s Hearings Scotland is working with the SCRA and partners to minimise the number of abortive or deferred rota hearings, and officials have asked it, in the light of that, to develop a range of interventions to improve matters over the coming months. I hope that those will deliver either a boost to panel intake numbers or better retention rates. I will be keeping a very close eye on that, because I appreciate how important it is to the passage of the bill. I have met Children’s Hearings Scotland in the past and I will meet it in the future to discuss the matter. As I said, I will continue to monitor it closely.