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 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.
Displaying 2119 contributions
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
I know that we have covered that topic in some of our previous discussions. I will simply outline that every project that is above 20 hectares has to go through an EIA screening process. If the project is found likely to have a significant effect, an EIA is required for that project.
At the moment, not many EIAs have been required. That has been taken as a sign that the system is not working, whereas it is more a sign that the system is working, because of all the modelling and screening that has to be undertaken for woodland projects. Scottish Forestry colleagues work closely with the projects throughout the process of woodland creation, to make sure that all the mitigations are in place and that the projects are in as strong a position as they can be. That means that, by the end of the process, an EIA may not be required, because all those mitigations have been put in place. That is the fundamental reason why we did not agree to those amendments.
We also did not want there to be a chilling effect on tree planting, which we have seen in other areas. Such measures have deterred some smaller planting schemes from coming through.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
That is certainly not what I have heard, but I am happy to follow that up. I believe that Forestry and Land Scotland has been undertaking consultation and engagement on its land management plan for that estate, which is very much about involving local communities. That is what we expect landowners to do, and our public organisations should lead by example. Wider involvement is hugely important and I would expect that to take place.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
I appreciate that point. I think that that relates to the additional quota that we receive. We had a consultation on that at the start of the year, which contained quite a few options, and we received a number of responses to that. Ultimately, with regard to fishing opportunities, that additional quota makes up 11 per cent of the overall quota that is allocated to industry. I appreciate the frustration about the time that was taken to confirm that. Unfortunately, it was a case of ensuring that we worked through detailed responses to the consultation before allocating the quotas.
We always like to learn from these processes, and we appreciate that that was difficult for the industry. Of course, we like to provide people with that information as soon as possible.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
We are finding the deadlines really hard to stick to. Again, that is a problem that is being faced across the UK at the moment. We are having those discussions and I will update the committee on that programme of work.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
Thank you, convener. Together with the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, I am happy to be with the committee this morning to discuss the priorities of the rural affairs, land reform and islands portfolio over the course of the coming year.
Scotland鈥檚 rural economy is a major source of growth for Scotland. It delivers an economic contribution worth 拢39 billion, which is 26 per cent of the Scottish total in gross value added in 2021. Yet, we know that communities across rural Scotland and our islands face a number of unique challenges, including the higher cost of living, so we are determined to make sure that those challenges are addressed across all of our policies.
We have set out in the programme for government just some of the key pieces of work that will be undertaken for the benefit of those who live in our rural and island communities. The new national islands plan, to be published in 2025, and the forthcoming rural delivery plan will set out how we will support those communities. The carbon neutral islands project is beginning to show how islands can take forward climate action that supports communities sustainably and supports resilience at the same time as reducing emissions.
I also look forward to taking the next steps on our good food nation journey, which include laying the national good food nation plan before Parliament. In terms of seafood, I will focus on securing quota and providing the regulatory frameworks to enable fisheries businesses to operate, alongside ensuring the long-term sustainability of fish stocks.
The agriculture reform programme will deliver on our vision for agriculture by continuing to support farmers and crofters to reduce emissions. It will also deliver biodiversity improvements through greater uptake of key baselining activities such as carbon and biodiversity audits and soil analysis.
Forestry is one of Scotland鈥檚 success stories, and we plan to build on that through the planting of 10,000 hectares of woodland this year. We also remain committed to protecting animal health and welfare and plant health. Working jointly with partners, we will ensure that we meet our statutory obligations and, crucially, safeguard trade, protect public health and maintain our highest possible standards.
It will, of course, be a busy year for the portfolio and, no doubt, for the committee, with our commitment to take forward three key pieces of legislation. The crofting bill will make crofting regulation less onerous for active crofters and the Crofting Commission, provide clarity in law and introduce some immediate positive outcomes for crofters and their communities. It will also allow the Crofting Commission to better regulate crofting.
The natural environment bill, which will be led by the acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin, will contain elements relating to national parks and deer management, which sit in my and Mr Fairlie鈥檚 portfolios. We will support the bill鈥檚 introduction.
I will also continue to take forward work on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in March and is being scrutinised by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. The bill sets out ambitious proposals that will change for the better how land is owned and managed in our rural and island communities.
That is a brief overview of some of the work that will be undertaken across the portfolio. I am happy to take any questions that you, convener, and the committee members have.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
I am happy to provide as much information as I can. I will hand over to Mr Fairlie, who can give more of an update on how the work on crofting is developing.
You mentioned the good food nation plan and other work. We have a deadline by which we have to introduce the plan. The committee will, no doubt, be aware that we undertook extensive consultation on the first draft of it. We received a significant response to that. We are working through that to update the draft that we have before we lay the plan in Parliament. We fully intend to lay it before the deadline, which is 30 June next year. The Parliament has 60 days from then in which to scrutinise it, and we have another three months from that point before we lay a draft final plan. I will keep the committee updated on that work as it progresses.
I will touch briefly on the natural environment bill. I hope that the committee appreciates that it is not for me to say when it will be introduced. I am not the lead minister on that bill although, as I touched on in my opening remarks, elements of it are relevant to my portfolio. There was a consultation on some of the measures in relation to that. We are working through the consultation responses as we develop the proposals that will form part of that legislation.
I hand over to Mr Fairlie.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
The PFG sets out that the natural environment bill is about updating and modernising the national parks legislation, and deer management features as part of that. That is the current intention.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
I do not anticipate that. It is about using the bill as the vehicle for any changes that we need to introduce via primary legislation.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
Not as far as I am aware. I do not know whether Malcolm Pentland has any further information.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 11 September 2024
Mairi Gougeon
In dealing with the UK Government, we have had proposals for quite some time in relation to some of the labour issues that exist across Scotland, particularly in our rural communities. We had put forward plans for a rural communities visa pilot, which had been largely endorsed by a number of different political parties as well as the Migration Advisory Committee, which saw merit in that idea. I hope that, given the reset in our relations with the UK Government, we can start to look at some of our previous ideas, so that we can improve the situation.