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 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.
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Displaying 1258 contributions
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Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
The point that I made about the amendment’s drafting was that the issue is how difficult it is to define rough sleeping. I have already agreed to engage further with Mr Halcro Johnston on that point, and I am happy to pick up the issue after today’s meeting. There are drafting issues, as we discussed at the meeting that we had, but I am happy to pick those up.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
I will address that point in a second.
On amendment 1065, I will be happy to ask my officials to engage with community planning partnerships about their future inclusion.
At a previous meeting, we discussed engaging before stage 3, so I am happy to pick up on the point that you have raised, Ms Boyack.
On amendment 1001, I recognise the role that higher and further education bodies may play in supporting their students, but I suggest that more consultation is required with both sectors, as Scottish universities have said. Scottish Government officials are already engaging with officers from Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland, and I ask Mr Simpson to take part in further discussions with the sector before stage 3—as we will be doing—if he can, so that we can potentially work on including the sector at a future date. I am happy to discuss that further with the member.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
In the discussion that we had, I said that the Government would be happy to further engage with Mr Halcro Johnston on that particular point. It is difficult to look further ahead to where Mr Halcro Johnston might want to go with his amendment. At the moment, I am highlighting the actions that the Government has taken on the matter.
Do you want to come back in, Mr Halcro Johnston?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
I know that Mr Doris has raised that issue on a number of occasions. There have been discussions with the DWP, as he mentioned, about the best way to progress this. I am happy to engage with Mr Doris before stage 3 about the best way to achieve the aims that he mentioned, which are very relevant, if he is willing to take up that offer.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
We would have to consider that, if that were to happen. I cannot pre-empt what another committee will say with regard to amendment 230. If that amendment was not agreed to, we would have to consider that point before stage 3.
I appreciate and understand the purpose of the amendments on the timing of commencement of the bill’s provisions. I understand any member’s desire to see progress on the delivery of the new duties and to avoid a loss of momentum. However, those objectives would be better met by supporting Mr Doris’s amendment 230 on commencement.
I hope that Mr Balfour will understand why I oppose amendment 1031, in his name, and amendment 1075, in the name of Mark Griffin. I share Mr Balfour’s desire to see progress, and I am happy to report back to the committee on the homelessness prevention pilots when that information is available. We might be able to pick that up outwith the bill process. Mr Balfour has made a very relevant point. However, my strong preference is for that not to delay commencement of part 5. Similarly, I do not see any need to delay commencement pending a review of the costs of the ask and act duties. However, I appreciate the relevant points that Mr Griffin and Mr Balfour have made, and I am happy to engage with both of them before stage 3.
Finally, I ask Mr Griffin not to move amendment 1076, which would impose a backstop date of 31 December 2028 for commencement of part 5 of the bill. I hope that Mr Griffin will agree that that is not necessary, given the amendment that Mr Doris has lodged, which will fix a backstop date for commencement with reference to royal assent and will therefore avoid any difficulty in timing should royal assent be delayed for any reason. The timing of the interim statement, as set out in amendment 1076, might also create difficulties in relation to the Scottish elections next year.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
Yes, of course.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 24 April 2025
Paul McLennan
Apologies, convener, but I am not finished yet.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 22 April 2025
Paul McLennan
You make a really important point. You are right: if somebody goes in and addresses the issue with antifungal paint, it might do the job for a short period of time, but the mould will just come back again very shortly afterwards.
One of the keys things in the consultation—you picked up on the point—is about working with local authorities on the technology in that area and ensuring that what we do is more sustainable and long term. It should not just be a case of doing a paint-over job because, within a year or two, the problem will come back, so that will not solve the situation in the medium to long term. It is very much about working with local authorities on ensuring that the technology that is coming forward—there are various initiatives in that regard—leads to longer-term, sustainable action. We will be consulting the regulator and local authorities on that issue. Again, I can come back to the committee on that.
As you said, it is something that the regulator reports on, and we will be discussing the matter with the regulator. I do not know whether any of my colleagues want to add anything.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 22 April 2025
Paul McLennan
You make a really important point. You are right: if somebody goes in and addresses the issue with antifungal paint, it might do the job for a short period of time, but the mould will just come back again very shortly afterwards.
One of the keys things in the consultation—you picked up on the point—is about working with local authorities on the technology in that area and ensuring that what we do is more sustainable and long term. It should not just be a case of doing a paint-over job because, within a year or two, the problem will come back, so that will not solve the situation in the medium to long term. It is very much about working with local authorities on ensuring that the technology that is coming forward—there are various initiatives in that regard—leads to longer-term, sustainable action. We will be consulting the regulator and local authorities on that issue. Again, I can come back to the committee on that.
As you said, it is something that the regulator reports on, and we will be discussing the matter with the regulator. I do not know whether any of my colleagues want to add anything.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 22 April 2025
Paul McLennan
I am happy to write to you to try to provide more clarity on that. As I said, there is complexity in that the buildings are all slightly different. We all want the remediation to be concluded, progressed and moved on as soon as possible. I am happy for Alan Johnston to drop you a note on the specific points that he mentioned in his contribution.
