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 ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and committees will automatically update to show only the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 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 1844 contributions
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
It is just a brief supplementary, convener.
When I speak to colleges, they tell me that, in order to make efficiencies through reform, they might need some additional funding up front. However, there is nothing for that in the budget. How do you think that colleges will be able to make those efficiencies in the long term without that funding?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Maybe I can help the cabinet secretary out about the projections for next year, because if, according to the budget, £28 million is to come out of universities, the chances are that there will be 3,800 fewer students next year than there were this year. I find that intolerable, and I hope that the cabinet secretary does, too.
The Government’s detailed analysis of the budget says:
“Changes in the college and HE resource budgets risk reducing education and skills training opportunities for young people, and for older people seeking to upskill.â€
How does that meet the principle of opportunity and equality?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
I can help with that. The figure that you have given for the Covid increase is 1,200, but removing those places saves only £5 million. Universities have £28 million to save, so if we make the comparison, we see that there will be another 2,600 fewer students next year. That means that, because of Government cuts, fewer Scottish students will be able to study at Scottish universities.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
It was your Government’s commitment.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Thank you, cabinet secretary. If that is the answer about breakfasts, I think that headteachers in schools across the country will be asking, “How many times do you want me to spend my PEF?â€
I will move to my final question, if that is all right.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Of course.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
No problem at all, convener. When we were discussing breakfasts and free school meals, I was mindful that my colleague had a question on it, so that is fine.
My next question is about teachers in schools. It is fair to say that, in the same way that headteachers will be asking, “How many times do you want me to spend my PEF?â€, local authorities will be asking, “How many times do you want us to spend our budget?â€, given how tight it is.
In an answer to me on teacher numbers, the cabinet secretary said that, if the national average pupil teacher ratio rose above 13.7, she would look to claw back some funding from local authorities. The national average is currently 13.2, but local authorities have already said that they are fearful that they will have to give some money back, and 15 local authorities have not met their targets. Will the cabinet secretary clarify the position on that and set out in clear terms whether she expects any local authorities to have to return funds that have been allocated for that purpose?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
I appreciate that, but, in your answer to me, you said that, while the national average pupil teacher ratio remained below 13.7, you would not claw back funding. It is 13.2. Will local authorities have to give the money back or not?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
So, you will not look at the national ratio, which is what you said in your answer that you would do.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2024
Pam Duncan-Glancy
I agree with the cabinet secretary on that. Being in the position that she is in, what does she intend to do about it?