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 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.
Displaying 3527 contributions
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
We really have to move on. Apologies, Marsha. I will bring Rona Mackay in next.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
We move to part 3, which鈥攜ou will be glad to hear鈥攊s the final part, focusing on special measures for civil cases. We will run up to 11.25.
I will open up the questioning. I direct my first question to Dr Marsha Scott.
Some organisations that have submitted responses, especially those that are supporting individuals with lived experience of the civil justice system, have suggested that the scope of those who are 鈥渄eemed vulnerable鈥濃攊n other words, automatically treated as vulnerable鈥攕hould be broadened. Can you outline your view as to whether part 3 sufficiently strengthens the protection that is available to individuals who are involved in civil court cases?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
Thank you for your forbearance. I know that you are very passionate about that.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
Thank you very much indeed. We have to draw the session to a close. I thank everybody on our panel this morning. We will have a short suspension to let our witnesses leave.
11:24 Meeting suspended.Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
Good morning, and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2023 of the Criminal Justice Committee. We have received no apologies this morning; Katy Clark joins us online.
Under our first item of business, we will continue to take evidence on the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. Last week, we began with an overview session on the bill with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, Angela Constance. Today, we move on to phase 1 of our evidence taking, which will focus specifically on parts 1 to 3 of the bill. Those parts cover the establishment of a victims and witnesses commissioner, the embedding of trauma-informed practice in the justice system and the extension of special measures to civil cases. We expect phase 1 to run to mid-November, after which we will move on to consider other parts of the bill.
This morning, we are joined by people from organisations that represent victims and survivors of various crimes. I give a warm welcome to Ann Marie Cocozza, the co-founder of FAMS鈥擣amilies and Friends Affected by Murder and Suicide; Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland; Dr Marsha Scott, the chief executive officer of Scottish Women鈥檚 Aid; and Kate Wallace, the chief executive officer of Victim Support Scotland.
I refer members to papers 1 to 3. I intend to allow up to 75 minutes for this session. Given that we have such a large panel, before we get under way, I ask members to be as succinct as possible with their questions and the witnesses to be as succinct as possible with their responses. I remind everyone that in phase 1 of our scrutiny we are focusing on parts 1 to 3 of the bill, so, if we can, let us try to work through those parts in turn in our questions.
I will begin with an opening question on part 1, which covers the proposal for a victims and witnesses commissioner. What are your views on the pros and cons of such a post? I will bring in Sandy Brindley and then Dr Marsha Scott, because I know that Rape Crisis Scotland supports the proposal and that Scottish Women鈥檚 Aid is more opposed to the creation of the post.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
Dr Hill, do you want to start? We will then bring in Bill Scott.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
Can I鈥擺Interruption.] Marsha Scott can add a brief comment.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
I bring in Rona Mackay, to be followed by Fulton MacGregor. I ask for succinct questions and responses.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
Thank you for that. You are right that we have a lot to cover, so I will open questions up to other members. Sharon Dowey would like to come in, followed by Pauline McNeill and Russell Findlay.
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 4 October 2023
Audrey Nicoll
It is the back of half 12, so we will move on to part 3, which covers special measures in civil cases. I interrupted Pauline McNeill in her questioning earlier. Would you like to come back in, Pauline?