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 ³ÉČĖæģŹÖ and committees will automatically update to show only the ³ÉČĖæģŹÖ and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of ³ÉČĖæģŹÖ and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of ³ÉČĖæģŹÖ 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 831 contributions
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Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Aquaculture Regulatory Review
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
That would be fine. You can write a letter to the committee.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
Yes, I have questions on the wider question of offences. Moving on to the issue of rabbits, a number of people have raised the issue of a dogāof its own volitionāchasing a rabbit. I will perhaps not pursue that area too much further, other than to ask whether people have a view on the inclusion of rabbits under the definition of āwild mammalā and, if so, whether people are content that the bill still allows for adequate pest control. That question goes first to William Telford. Are you content that the bill allows you to make that distinction?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
Does Sara Shaw want to come in on that?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
While we are speaking about the business of enforcement, I want to ask whether the witnesses are content with what the bill says about potential restrictions on individuals keeping a dog or a horse. Could Sara Shaw or William Telford say anything about that?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Aquaculture Regulatory Review
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
Are you able to offer a view on any potential additional costs or benefits of the new process as it is set out in your recommendations and on the consenting process? Where might the balance of the costs and benefits lie between the various parties involved?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
But it does not cover the intentions of the dog.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
I want to look at that from another perspective and ask Robbie Kernahan from NatureScot about the misuse of the law on hare coursing and the distinction that is to be made between that and the legitimate pest control of rabbits. Is that distinction sufficiently clear and workable in the bill? Basically, would the bill allow for adequate pest control?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 22 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
The example of the dog that slips the lead has been raised a few times. You must be tired of hearing about that particular dog, but is it fair to say that the use of the word āuseā in the bill deals with some of the question marks? Prosecutors would be interested in the intentions of the human rather than the intentions of the dog. Does āuseā encompass that clearly? If it is not a tautology, does the use of the word āuseā make it clear in the bill that the examples that we have talked about on numerous occasions, such as that of a dog slipping the lead, are to do with the intentions of the dog, not the intentions of the owner, and that, therefore, the owner would not be prosecuted for that? Is āuseā an adequate way of dealing with the problem that we have been talking about?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Crisis in Ukraine
Meeting date: 16 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
You mentioned the notional sum of Ā£10,500 that the UK Government has allocated to some schemes but not to others. You expressed concern about equity between the different schemes, but do you have any concerns about the sum itself? What are local authorities expected to cover from it?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Crisis in Ukraine
Meeting date: 16 June 2022
Alasdair Allan
First, I thank you for coming here again. I emphasise that the committee has written to the UK Government about seasonal workers; we are very sympathetic to them being on the visa scheme and their applications being processed as quickly as possible.
On a completely different subject, what more do you think that Scotland, its civic society and the Parliament can do to continue to keep the suffering of the Ukrainian people in the public imagination, to ensure that attention does not go away?
