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 1235 contributions
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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
On that point, Mr Briggs, I am not saying that this is about health and safety. How people interpret these things and how the matter is assessed as part of the broader debate are separate issues. Health and safety considerations are incredibly important, given the thousands of people who come to Edinburgh, but there is no doubt that we need a broader—and separate—discussion about the amount of provision that exists.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
I do not think that the order will do that. One of the key things that I talked about with the expert group was on-going dialogue. We speak to SOLAR on a regular basis, as do officials—almost weekly. I will continue to meet ASSC. I have mentioned reviewing the situation in Edinburgh once the festival is over. You and I have discussed in other forums what that will look like, and I will be happy to involve you in discussions at that stage. The other issue is meeting providers, such as Airbnb and other groups, so that there is on-going dialogue.
I suppose that it comes back to the original decision on whether it would be a national or a local scheme. I think that it was decided that it would be best if it was a local scheme for a number of reasons, one being that that would take in local circumstances. There will always be variances within the scheme, as there are variances within planning. Outwith short-term lets, there will always be variances in terms of planning and other licensing schemes—there will always be that element.
The whole purpose of coming here today was to try to simplify and feed back on some of the points that have been raised. Obviously, the scheme is still in the transitional stage, as has been mentioned, so we will continue to monitor it. The expert group has been brought together to look at that. I also speak in the advice group, which includes VisitScotland and other stakeholders.
A wide range of discussions have gone on in the past and a wide range of discussions will continue. I am pretty confident that, despite the variances that you will see among local authorities—which are similar for any other licensing or planning scheme—that clarity will be given. Of course, we will continue to monitor that.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
We have been made aware of the point about alcohol licences and I will bring in Craig McGuffie. Craig, do you want to comment on what we are doing in that respect?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
There are a number of points. One is about trying to strike a balance. For example, we talked about the temporary exemptions and other issues that were raised. That has been the most pertinent issue, in terms of bringing things forward. Obviously, there were discussions about how far to go at this stage—we are still in a transitional stage, which is important. We agreed that we would discuss that particular point with the expert group.
Exemptions and provisional licences were the things that were raised as priorities in the feedback, not just from the ASSC but from other groups. At the moment, those are the most important things that we need to pick up on. Going forward, through the expert group that I talked about and the on-going engagement with stakeholders, we will continue to look at the issues. If we need to bring something back, we will certainly do so. We will also be cognisant of what the committee says. It was felt that those were the most important points that had to be raised.
There is a broader discussion, and it is not just with the stakeholders—it is also with the likes of SOLAR and so on. It was always going to be a balancing act to consider the key things that we need to take forward. We will continue to discuss the issue. There has been on-going dialogue all the way through, and there will continue to be on-going dialogue. As I referenced, the expert group will continue to consider the issues once the scheme is fully operational and in place.
We have included the most important things that we need now, but we are not knocking back the issues that stakeholders have raised. We will continue to discuss the issues with the stakeholders and with SOLAR and others.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
Craig, do you want to come in, and then I will come back on that point?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
Of course.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
I am getting there.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
I would like to pick up on the points that were raised, I said that we acted on the most important points from stakeholders. For example, I mentioned the Short Term Accommodation Association’s view.
I will continue to engage with the committee and with stakeholders. I will also reflect on what the committee has said today. Convener, if the committee wishes to have additional information, it can certainly invite me back at some other stage. In the meantime, I will continue with the discussions and reflect on what has been said today. I will also be happy to meet the committee or individual members at a further stage if that is thought to be appropriate.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
Yes—I will bring in Jessica Niven on that particular point. As you are aware, we had hoped to have those figures available for the committee. Perhaps Jess can advise on when it looks likely that that report will be published.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Paul McLennan
Yes. We have engaged with the Law Society of Scotland over a long period of time and it raised that point about the order. We are still in discussion with it about that, and we would certainly look to engage with it on that point. We got its feedback at a relatively late stage in the process, we continue to engage with it, and we will continue to engage on that point. If we need to amend the guidelines or whatever, we will ensure that we do that. However, we are still in discussion with the Law Society on some of the points that it has raised.
