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 1615 contributions
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
If Mr Kerr could be pithy, I will take the intervention.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
I have already said that, should the HIS inspections that we are getting before March, and the task force, recommend that course, that is what I will do. I believe that that culture has been exposed in the HIS inspections; we saw that that was central to the criticism in the Royal infirmary of Edinburgh report.
I will not tolerate that—I expect to see improvements in the culture, and we are seeing management improvements and changes as a result. That is why I have confidence in the situation that is being developed through the HIS inspections. If that changes in any way, I am open to what Stephen Kerr suggests.
With regard to Mr Rennie’s amendment, as I said in my statement last week, I expect the task force to look at rural maternity services as one of its first areas of focus. Members will be aware that NHS Highland instigated a review of services in Caithness in 2016, following the death of a full-term baby in Caithness general hospital. NHS Highland’s review incorporated the findings from two external reviews and recommended the move to the current model of maternity care that is operating in Caithness.
That being said, I am sympathetic to the concerns that are raised in the Liberal Democrat amendment, and the concerns that my colleagues Maree Todd and Emma Roddick have raised in—
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
No. Progress continues to be made on the delivery of the Baird family hospital and the ANCHOR, and I very much look forward to the additional capacity that that will bring.
On the national treatment centre programme, Liam Kerr will be aware of the capital position that the Government faces on the health portfolio in particular. There is currently a pause, other than in areas that are currently in development or set out under ministerial priority. However, we await the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget statement later this month, and I remain hopeful that, through its provisions, there might be increased capital investment in our economy that would allow us to take forward those projects much more quickly.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
I acknowledge Mr Harvie’s point and the consistency with which he has raised it, including in our regular one-to-one discussions, for which I am very grateful.
I also recognise the Public Health Scotland figures that he has quoted with regard to the waiting times at the Sandyford and wider services, which are undoubtedly a challenge for us. I, too, have constituents who are in a similar situation, so I recognise the pressure that that puts on them and on staff. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health is investing in areas to explore how we can alleviate those pressures on waiting times.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
I would welcome Douglas Ross’s sharing information with me in writing, if he can, about the situation that his constituent has faced, which, on the face of it, sounds as though it involved an unnecessary and unacceptable delay, for which I apologise.
In response to Audrey Nicoll I set out the improvement plan that is in place to support the unscheduled care improvement that is required. Having made the point repeatedly in the chamber—in particular, to colleagues who represent the north-east—I have been very clear that the financial rigour that requires to be observed at NHS Grampian should not and must not get in the way of the improvements to patient care that I expect. I have made that point absolutely clear to NHS Grampian as well as to assurance board colleagues.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
As I set out in my proactive statement to Parliament, the situation in Skye is improving because there has been increased workforce development and support for increased employment in Portree hospital to ensure that Sir Lewis Ritchie’s review can be honoured. I was able to meet local residents to provide reassurances on the commitment from NHS Highland of continued improvement locally.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
I absolutely agree with Clare Haughey. Our position could not be clearer: the founding principles of our national health service—that it is publicly owned, publicly operated and free at the point of need—are sacrosanct. That is why our backing of our NHS with record funding—I note that Labour and the Conservatives refused to support that record funding investment for our NHS during the budget vote—comes with a focus on reform. Such reform empowers our NHS to deliver high-quality care to people across the country, and it includes the £25.5 million of additional funding that was announced this week to allow boards to deliver more appointments and procedures.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
I expect that a comprehensive service review of NHS Grampian’s central decontamination service will be carried out. That review will examine the decontamination process and the supporting infrastructure—including the plant, machinery and engineering services—that underpins safe and effective operations.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
I thank Murdo Fraser for his question and for the correspondence on behalf of his constituent. I have corresponded with both him and the First Minister on the matter in a constituency capacity.
Mr Fraser refers to the situation relating to events in 2018, which involved a different service—endoscopy decontamination—and not to the situation that NHS Grampian is currently facing, which is to do with decontamination elsewhere. At my insistence, officials have met Mr Donnelly in order to explore whether anything further can be done to support him in his position. The advice that I have provided to Mr Fraser, on his behalf, still stands.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 5 November 2025
Neil Gray
NHS Grampian has been escalated to stage 4 of the NHS Scotland support and intervention framework, which allows it to receive support from the Scottish Government that is commensurate with its challenges.
As a result of that escalation, the Scottish Government has set up an NHS Grampian assurance board, which frequently challenges NHS Grampian’s financial management and position. We have also provided funding for an interim director of improvement and a diagnostic report on NHS Grampian’s financial challenges, and we meet its representatives weekly to enable us to monitor progress against financial targets.