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 2049 contributions
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2023
Bob Doris
I do not want to misinterpret what you are saying, commissioner, but it is almost as though you are saying that the Government and the Parliament should take a considered and almost incremental view of how we can extend FOI on a sector-by-sector basis by considering the implications, getting the balance right in each sector, and implementing changes accordingly rather than looking at everything all at once and trying to legislate in haste. We have to consider the evidence that we have heard this morning, and I do not want to misinterpret or analyse incorrectly the points that you are making.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2023
Bob Doris
We are not trying to get rid of you early. [Laughter.] Mr Mountain was suggesting that this is your last day; I was not doing that.
There are other transitions. The Scottish Government has been consulting on changes to freedom of information. A number of changes have been suggested—for example, a change to the number of organisations that are subject to FOI; a change to the use of section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to add bodies to the list; and the introduction of a gateway clause by which third party organisations that fulfil public functions and currently avoid FOI could be brought into its gambit. There are quite a lot of potential changes. I understand that an update to the section 60 code of practice to provide guidance for informal communications such as those on WhatsApp and whether those should be subject to FOI—what I might refer to as the “Hancock clause”—is also potentially within the scope of the changes.
Quite a lot is within the scope of the consultation. I am not necessarily trying to draw you on your views on those things, commissioner, but did the Government get the scope of the consultation just about right? Do you have any other reflections, not on the Hancock clause in particular, but more generally?
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2023
Bob Doris
Thank you for your evidence so far, which has been really helpful.
At the start of your contribution, you mentioned that we are going through a period of change. At some point, you will demit office, and we wish you well for the future when you are no longer in office. It is a day for changes.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2023
Bob Doris
Commissioner, before you move on to the rest of the potential scope of consultation or, indeed, legislation, I will ask about the section 60 code of practice, although I have to admit that I am no expert on it. Maybe I will read it out, because it is in front of me, but I now know that it exists. Is there a need for greater clarity?
Referring to the “Hancock clause” was a glib comment. I have no desire in the slightest to defend Matt Hancock, but I will make a serious point. I can imagine people who are in positions of power wanting to communicate quickly and freely with a range of officials and stakeholders in very short and condensed formats, just for speed. They need to be really careful about what they put on those platforms, because not everything is captured in a text or an abridged WhatsApp message. It is not just about having shining, absolute transparency about what people in power are really thinking; it is also about making sure that people who are in power are very clear about expectations. With that caveat, do we need clarity? Does that code, which I now know exists, need to be clarified or updated?
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2023
Bob Doris
That is helpful. I apologise for cutting you off in full flow. You were going to talk about the rest of the scope of the consultation.
10:45Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2023
Bob Doris
Just to push you on that, are you both saying that a referral can still happen but that a person has to have had direct interaction with the court system before they are sent back to the reporter? Otherwise, I am reading something very different on the Scottish Government’s website.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2023
Bob Doris
Okay. Do the other witnesses want to reflect on that aspect? As Claire Dobson mentioned earlier, we need to ensure that the bill’s provisions do not have wider resource implications. Has Police Scotland done work on additional officer time? You have given us a per case example, but have you done any modelling work on that, which you could share with us either today or at a later date?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2023
Bob Doris
Can I check whether the Lord Advocate’s guidance will be updated?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2023
Bob Doris
I have just a couple of questions to finish what has been quite a lengthy evidence session. Our briefing papers suggest that the bill’s provisions might have an impact on Police Scotland’s reporting jointly to the procurator fiscal and the principal reporter offences committed by children. I am keen to understand how that process operates currently and how it might have to be adapted in the light of the changes to the definition of “child” that the bill proposes.
Perhaps Claire Dobson is best placed to answer that question in relation to Police Scotland’s reporting requirements.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2023
Bob Doris
No, not on that.