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 1758 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
For me, this is not about some of us perhaps not understanding the meaning of those terms or what they might be. The fact is that we are putting them into legislation, so it has to be clear what is meant by “human right defenders” or “relevant policy makers”. That is where the questions arise in my head. People might come along in 10 years’ time, pick up the bill and wonder, “Hold on—am I a human rights defender or not?” That is why what goes into the legislation has to be clear. That is the issue that is being raised, not whether people understand what those terms might be.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
I agree with the intent. It is just that what we have in the amendment that you have lodged is, I believe, unworkable. I do not see how it can be brought forward. Amendment 189, in the name of Mark Ruskell, also sounds good, and I think that it is workable, so I am happy to support that amendment.
Graham Simpson mentioned the timescale and whether it should be six months, one year or two years. Mr Simpson is right to point out the already arbitrary two-year target, and the aim is to reduce that time period. I have reflected on the proposal for a one-year period, but what I will say is that, if we are serious about this and if we believe that urgent action is needed, we need to look at the timescales and reduce them as much as possible while ensuring that they remain practical.
11:45Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
I am not going to ask where I can buy clothes for myself. I am trying to understand a little bit more about amendment 132 and trying to measure the impact. How could we measure and monitor that? I am really struggling to understand.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
Thank you, minister, for taking my intervention.
I often hear about the co-design approach and had thought that it was embedded in the national care service, so I am surprised that the wording of amendment 1 cannot be accepted, although I accept what you said in your latter points on Maurice Golden’s amendment.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
Thank you, convener. Amendment 80 is, I think, quite simple; it would just change the reporting period from two and a half years to one year. We often hear talk of the climate emergency and everything else, and, if we are serious about doing this, it is time to, if not turbocharge—I do not want to say that—some of our timelines, then really up the pace. That is why I propose changing the reporting period to 12 months.
I turn to the other amendments in the group. The co-design approach and working with local authorities, which Maurice Golden has mentioned, will be vital for all the work that we are doing, so that is absolutely key. Amendment 190 is about a review by SEPA, which is another key partner, so that is a fairly sensible approach.
Amendment 187, in the name of Bob Doris, sounds good, but, in practice, I think that it would be unworkable. In the lead-up to COP, it was probably a bit easier, because people were getting together anyway. It would be a bit harder to do that when looking at the circular economy strategy.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
I want to understand how the consultation would take place. If the consultation were widened too far, could that delay the strategy?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
Will the member take an intervention?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
Do you not feel that if we leave the report too long—for two and a half years, say—we might be seriously off track by the time that reporting is carried out, and we will have less time to adjust? If we were to report after a year, we could see how far we are from the targets, then make changes to put us back on track.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
If construction waste is not going to be in the bill, I am trying to think where else it could be mentioned. Could the construction industry have its own waste strategy? If it is not in the bill, how might it be handled?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 7 May 2024
Douglas Lumsden
I apologise to the construction industry if I sound like I am demonising it. My question to Ben Macpherson was about where a list would be if it were not in the bill. There could be a strategy on best practice that the industry feeds into—perhaps that would be the best way forward.
I also want to speak about Clare Adamson’s amendment 211, which addresses real safety concerns. We agree that we should be reusing electrical tools and so on as much as possible, but we need to do it in a careful and considered way. Clare Adamson also mentioned lithium batteries for household goods, which are a big concern, especially when they end up in a recycling centre—Jackie Dunbar knows all too well the fire risk in that regard. The issue is wider than lithium batteries for household goods, because we are seeing more batteries for energy storage. That will be a problem, so Clare Adamson’s amendment 211 is very good.
On Bob Doris’s amendments 208 and 209, it is right that we consider the impact of the plans. We need to ensure that there are no unintended consequences on areas such as agriculture.
I completely agree with the intention of Sarah Boyack’s amendment 212, but I have concerns in relation to the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020. I am sure that we will have lots of discussions about the issue in the weeks ahead. Some suppliers are already doing great work on take-back, and I am concerned that the amendment might undermine some of that, although I could be wrong.
I agree with the minister about the issue of extraterritorial—not extraterrestrial—principles that Monica Lennon’s amendment 132 deals with. Once again, I agree with the intention of the amendment but, to make the bill meaningful, we have to ensure that its provisions can be monitored and measured correctly. That might be difficult in relation to that amendment, but I acknowledge that Monica Lennon will take the issue away and consider it further. I will support her in the future if she can put my fears to rest on that issue.