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 MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs 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 1235 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Paul McLennan
I think that we will touch on that in some of the later questions. No doubt it will come up.
I ask Anthony Aitken to come in on that.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Paul McLennan
I nominate Willie Coffey.
Willie Coffey was chosen as deputy convener.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Paul McLennan
That is very helpful. Thank you.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Paul McLennan
Thank you.
11:00Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Paul McLennan
That is an important point. As you know, raptor protection is an emotive issue. How do we balance the management of a grouse moor with raptor protection? We have RSPB Scotland involved in that matter. We are trying to get a balanced approach to it. There are two sides of that debate and the purpose of the group is to try to hear both sides of it, have an informed discussion and move forward together if we can. There will not always be agreement on all the issues, but it is important to try to discuss and debate them because there is a lot of legislation and a lot of things are happening in the sector. It affects all parts, urban or rural, so it affects most constituencies in Scotland.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Paul McLennan
Thank you.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Paul McLennan
Thank you. It is good to be back at the committee, although in another guise. To give a bit of background, East Lothian is a rural constituency. In my first few months as an MSP, I was touring some of its areas and there are about seven grouse moors, for example. When I was speaking to some of the landowners and other groups about that, it became clear that there was a need for the CPG because there are different views.
The purpose of the group is to try to bring together those different views. A lot of legislation is going on in this sphere; topics to discuss include biodiversity, climate change issues, grouse moor management, deer management and the just transition. The purpose is to bring together those with different opinions to try to get a reasoned debate and inform legislation. That is the main idea behind the group and that is why quite a wide range of organisations—again, with differing opinions—will be involved as group members.
The intention is to bring people together. We looked at existing groups—there are CPGs on rural policy, crofting, animal welfare and other areas, as we mention in the application form. There might be an opportunity to work with some of those groups as we develop our work programme, but we believe that there is a specific need for a group on sustainable upland management.
The CPG will bring together groups that have different opinions to try to get a reasoned discussion. It has been a very emotive issue over a number of months and years, so the purpose is to see whether we can get some mutual co-operation and mutual understanding around the issues that are out there. That is the reasoning behind the CPG.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Paul McLennan
We have had initial discussions on the issues around the right to roam and the right to access. Again, that is probably an example of the need to try to balance different opinions. I have similar issues in my own constituency and I know that there are issues in other constituencies. The matter has been discussed and part of it is about education and engagement with different groups and organisations. I am sure that it will be raised in the group meetings.
Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Paul McLennan
I get that point. We are talking about grouse management and deer management. Those are predominantly but not exclusively for uplands management. There is an opportunity to consider lowland management. It is a good point to raise. If the CPG is approved, we can say at the next meeting that there is an issue with lowland management and ask whether we can discuss it.
A lot of the groups that are involved in the CPG will also be involved in lowland management. We have tried to include as diverse a range of groups as possible in the CPG membership. It is a relevant point to address. How do we define “uplands”? Where do lowlands become uplands and vice versa?
I visited Schiehallion a few months ago. People there were talking about that issue and asking about where the border was between uplands and lowlands for deer management. That was a specific issue, but the overall point is relevant and I will take it to the next discussion that the group has.
How do we define uplands management? Where does it stop? Does it have to take place above a certain height? There is no clear definition of what it is, but, when something becomes uplands management, it goes into issues that can prove to be controversial. Raptor protection is a relevant one. I am sure that we have all had correspondence on that.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 January 2022
Paul McLennan
My next question is for Robbie Calvert, and then perhaps for the other witnesses. Some concern has been expressed about timescales for consulting on the draft NPF4, and I note that the Parliament and the Scottish Government are running concurrent consultations. Do you have any concerns about that? Are there any implications for stakeholders involved in the process?