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 成人快手 and committees will automatically update to show only the 成人快手 and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of 成人快手 and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of 成人快手 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 1516 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Monica Lennon
Before we hear from Tom Norris, I want to ask about building warrants, which we have had some discussion about. From the Homes for Scotland perspective, does the current process of building standards verification and issuing of building warrants adequately assess the energy efficiency and general standard of a property? We have heard about the need to address the quality of work to ensure that energy efficiency measures have been adequately fitted. Do you have a view on that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Monica Lennon
We have had a helpful written submission from Homes for Scotland, which touches on skills and challenges in local government. Through the inquiry, we have heard quite a lot about the planning workforce in local authorities. I think that, between 2011 and 2020, there has been a 20 per cent reduction in that workforce. However, we have not heard as much about other professions that work in local government. Do you have any comments on the building standards workforce in local government from the RICS or surveying perspective? Is that area presenting challenges?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Monica Lennon
Good morning. Some interesting points have been made about future proofing, which takes me back to evidence that we heard in May from the Existing Homes Alliance Scotland. Frustration was expressed about the fact that the homes that we are building right now are not fit for purpose. Teresa Bray from the Existing Homes Alliance Scotland said:
鈥淭he fact that we are building new homes that will have to be retrofitted is appalling. No one who moves into a new-build home should have to retrofit their home. That should be built into the price.鈥濃擺Official Report, Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, 17 May 2022; c 28.]
Today, we have heard about some of the challenges in that regard, and good points have been made. How do we navigate between that view and the desire to get things right now? Tom Norris has made points about the need for more joined-up working, and Fionna Kell spoke about the need for a route map.
I have a question about the idea that the homes that we are building today are not fit for purpose. Is that to do with insulation, heating systems or both? What can we do to improve the situation? Perhaps Fionna Kell will respond first.
10:15Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Monica Lennon
It is all very challenging. That is helpful. Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Monica Lennon
You mentioned NPF4, which is still a live issue for the Parliament鈥攊t is under scrutiny鈥攁nd you touched on the need for better alignment of planning and building standards.
Tom, you talked about the need for a more joined-up approach. Do you want to add to what Fionna Kell said?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Monica Lennon
Members have enjoyed getting out of the Parliament to see some of the good and innovative practice that exists across Scotland. Do you have anything to add, Niall?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 31 May 2022
Monica Lennon
Good morning, Franziska. It has been a pleasure to hear your contribution, so I thank you. Perhaps the committee could visit Freiburg at some point in the future.
In our inquiry into local government, we have heard many complaints about how slow councils can be in making decisions, particularly in the planning process. I am interested to hear that, in Freiburg, your city planning office is regarded as a think tank and an agenda setter.
Could you tell us a bit more about that? How do you ensure, in your municipality, that your work is widely recognised and appreciated, and that the staff feel motivated? Clearly, you feel very proud of the work that you are doing. Is that a feeling that the staff share? Do people want to work for the municipality?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 31 May 2022
Monica Lennon
Thank you.
I know that we do not have a lot of time, convener, so I will shortly pass back to you, but it would be interesting to hear from Freiburg in the future about the planning workforce, because we have questions about that workforce in Scotland. We have had a reduction in our planning workforce, so it would be interesting to see a comparison. In the interests of time, however, I will pass back to you, convener.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Monica Lennon
Are you saying that a disproportionate number of wind farm applications end up in public local inquiries compared to other developments?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Monica Lennon
In this inquiry, we have had a lot of discussion about skills, expertise and capacity in local government, and there is lots of good practice to celebrate. However, I want to pick up on the point that Morag Watson made about time constraints. My question is for David Hammond, although I see David Rodger on my screen.
David Hammond, you work in North Ayrshire Council. Clearly, demands are high on the time of officers across the council. In order to have the networking and engagement that we have heard about, how do we free up the time of local government officers so that they can engage in that work in a meaningful way, and how do we get to a place in which we pockets of best practice are not thought of as the exception鈥攈ow do we cascade those practices across local government and the public sector, so that we can learn from the best and can improve?
