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 1038 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
As I indicated in my answer to Dr Allan, we are in the process of reviewing the dental access improvement schemes and the funding that is available to dentists, to ensure that practices are set up. That is an important part of the work that we need to do.
I highlight that I am disappointed about the restrictions that the United Kingdom Government has put on visas for dental technicians. Those visas would allow us to improve our workforce in Scotland and across the UK, to ensure that people get the right support from their dentist as they need it.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
I have been clear in my responses to other questions that we are willing to look at whatever solutions there are. Two years ago, we reviewed the fees that dentists receive, which has improved uptake for dentists. We are also reviewing the governance to ensure that we can get as many dentists in Scotland as we need and that we can increase the intake of dentistry students in universities.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
The United Kingdom Government has still not responded to the Hughes report. We are two years on from the report’s publication, and the delay is unreasonable and unfair for affected people and their families. I made that point strongly when I met last month with the UK health minister, Dr Zubir Ahmed. The Scottish Government has still not received any proposals for financial redress schemes that would support the implementation of Dr Hughes’s recommendations. We stand ready to consider any proposals and to work constructively on a four-nations basis.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
Officials are meeting monthly with the director of dentistry for the Western Isles, to understand local service provision and concerns. We recognise that access remains more challenging in rural and island areas, which is why our operational improvement plan commits to reviewing and refreshing the financial incentives available to the dental sector, to better support patient access in rural and island areas. That work is under way and we anticipate that revised incentives will be introduced in the 2026-27 financial year.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
As I noted in my earlier answer, we are committed to the review and refresh of financial incentives to support the workforce and patient access in rural and island areas. That work is at an advanced stage. It is my hope that, once in force, the revised allowances will encourage renewed uptake of high-street provision in island areas such as the Western Isles, and support patients in engaging in regular check-ups and routine dental work.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
I absolutely recognise how difficult and distressing the situation continues to be for affected individuals and their families. I was very pleased to meet and speak to Willie Coffey’s constituents, the McKerrows, in Parliament earlier.
As Willie Coffey will know, there was a debate about the issue in Westminster Hall this morning. As I understand it, the Department of Health and Social Care gave no new undertakings on redress and no commitment on the timing of a response. That is greatly disappointing, given the calls for action from the Scottish Government and the other devolved nations. I recognise that there is cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament, so I hope that Labour colleagues in this Parliament will work with us to encourage their Labour colleague, Minister Ahmed, to finally take action.
We remain firmly committed to pushing for a resolution. I remain ready to work with the UK Government and will continue to push it to provide clarity about its position on financial redress. In parallel, the chief pharmaceutical officer is exploring how support for people who are harmed by valproate might be improved in Scotland.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
I agree with what Jackson Carlaw has said. I also reflect on the important work that he has done to ensure that women who are living with the consequences of mesh implants remain at the forefront of all our thoughts.
My officials have met UK officials on a number of occasions to try to move the issue forward and, as I said in my earlier response, along with my colleagues from Wales and Northern Ireland, I met Minister Ahmed to try to push it forward. The three nations are certainly working together on the issue.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 12:20]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
Officials are meeting monthly with the director of dentistry for the Western Isles, to understand local service provision and concerns. We recognise that access remains more challenging in rural and island areas, which is why our operational improvement plan commits to reviewing and refreshing the financial incentives available to the dental sector, to better support patient access in rural and island areas. That work is under way and we anticipate that revised incentives will be introduced in the 2026-27 financial year.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 12:20]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
As I indicated in my answer to Dr Allan, we are in the process of reviewing the dental access improvement schemes and the funding that is available to dentists, to ensure that practices are set up. That is an important part of the work that we need to do.
I highlight that I am disappointed about the restrictions that the United Kingdom Government has put on visas for dental technicians. Those visas would allow us to improve our workforce in Scotland and across the UK, to ensure that people get the right support from their dentist as they need it.
Meeting of the Parliament [Last updated 12:20]
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Jenni Minto
I have been clear in my responses to other questions that we are willing to look at whatever solutions there are. Two years ago, we reviewed the fees that dentists receive, which has improved uptake for dentists. We are also reviewing the governance to ensure that we can get as many dentists in Scotland as we need and that we can increase the intake of dentistry students in universities.
