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 ˿ and committees will automatically update to show only the ˿ and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of ˿ and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of ˿ 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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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Edward Mountain
Before you go on, minister, I note that some people might argue that one of the biggest threats to birds at the moment is avian flu. However, I understand that, in the long term, it may be climate change. I just wanted to put that on the record.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Edward Mountain
We have another question from the deputy convener.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Deposit Return Scheme
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Edward Mountain
Do not touch a button. The microphone will come on for you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Decision on Taking Business in Private
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Edward Mountain
Good morning and welcome to the ninth meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee in 2023. Today we have received apologies from Monica Lennon and Ash Regan. I welcome Collette Stevenson. Mercedes Villalba will also attend later, as a substitute. When she joins us I will have to pause to ask her whether she wants to declare interests before she asks any questions. Technically, that is the first item on the agenda, but it will come at the correct moment.
Therefore, we will move to agenda item 2, which is to make a decision on whether to take items 6, 7 and 8 in private. Items 6 and 7 are consideration of the evidence that we will hear today on the outcome of the 15th United Nations biodiversity conference of the parties—COP15—and Scotland’s deposit return scheme. Item 8 is consideration of a draft report on the United Kingdom Energy Bill. Do members agree to take those items in private?
Members indicated agreement.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
COP15 Outcomes
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Edward Mountain
Item 3 is an evidence session that forms part of our scrutiny of the outcomes of the 15th UN biodiversity conference of the parties, otherwise known as COP15. Members have received papers on the subject.
Last week, the committee heard from a panel of experts in biodiversity policy. This week we will hear from the Scottish Government on its views on the outcomes of COP15 and about how the targets that were agreed at the summit will be embedded in the new Scottish biodiversity strategy.
I welcome Lorna Slater, the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity. Thank you for attending today. I also welcome Matthew Bird, who is biodiversity team leader, and Lisa McCann, who is head of biodiversity, from the Scottish Government. I believe that you wish to make a brief opening statement, minister.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Edward Mountain
The whole point of the system is to be fair to all parties: to the person who makes a complaint and to the person who is complained about. You have outlined the procedure that you have gone through for the person who is making the complaint and how they can find out about and in due course see the progress of their complaint through the system. That is very important, because it gives you a certain amount of strength to argue your case that you are taking each complaint seriously—I know that you do that, but it lets you prove it.
Although you have to be impartial in how you investigate a case, are you happy that you are giving advice to the person at the sharp end of the complaint about what they can do? After all, it is quite nerve wracking. I had a complaint against me. It was struck off, as it happens, but I can tell you that it is a nerve-wracking procedure because most—I would say all—˿ want to do the best they can. It is quite daunting when you get a letter, especially if you are a new MSP, which in my case I was. Do you feel that you are doing as much as you can for the person the complaint is being made about and that you are giving them the correct advice on where they can seek support and help.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Edward Mountain
I will perhaps leave it there, convener. I am sure that it is work in progress that everyone considers to be important, because the process should be fair for all—not just the complainer but the person who is complained about. I welcome your comment that you think that more could be done.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Edward Mountain
It would be helpful for me to see it. This is one of the things that I feel very strongly about. I do not want to discourage anyone from making complaints, but a speedy and fair resolution is absolutely critical for the person who has received the complaint against them. If someone is informed that there is a complaint against them, I believe that it goes against natural justice if it then takes months to sort it out. The pressure on that individual is huge. I am keen to see that that procedure form is there and there are review dates so that, if a complaint sits there for more than a set period of time, that is flagged up to the next level of management until eventually it lands on your desk with a flag saying, “If I don’t resolve this tomorrow, it might be my job on the line as well.” Is that procedure in place?
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Edward Mountain
I am sure that that is good news. I stress that I am not trying to discourage people from complaining, but I am thinking about the pressures on individuals with a complaint against them.
Convener, I have a question about the advice that is given to people who have a complaint against them. It may be appropriate to put that later in the session.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland
Meeting date: 9 March 2023
Edward Mountain
You will not be surprised that I am asking this question, because I have pushed on it before. Whether or not a complaint meets the requirements to be investigated is quite formulaic under the legislation. I would like some assurance that, when a complaint comes in, the simple tests of admissibility are ticked off on a spreadsheet or a covering sheet and that there is no delay in doing that, because it appears to me that that might have been a failing under the previous system. Is that covered in the manual that is referred to in recommendation 3.4 in the Deloitte report?
