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 1769 contributions
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 11 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
That would be really helpful. Specifically, could you outline when it is intended that the review will start and what it will consider?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 11 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Almost.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 11 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Take-up of the Scottish welfare fund appears to be dependent on postcode; there is significant variability in the success rates of applications across the country. In addition, we see more and more repeated applications for the Scottish welfare fund, which suggests that people are living in crisis. What is the Government doing to review the Scottish welfare fund and address the variability across locations and postcodes in Scotland, and what is it doing to ensure that people can access benefits on a more permanent basis to ensure that they have the money that they need to live on rather than consistently going back to what is in essence a crisis fund?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 4 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Thank you.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 4 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Good morning, panel, and thank you for your testimony so far. I have some questions on temporary accommodation and evictions, which have been touched on already. We know that there are a large number of children in temporary accommodation. What can we do to move them rapidly—I think that that is the word that was used—into more settled accommodation? Would it be possible to do that before Christmas? I would like to think so, but I am keen to hear how we could do it.
It was rightly pointed out that the change to the ban on evictions has had a serious impact on the numbers. Do you have any concerns about the lifting of the ban and its impact on homelessness?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 4 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
I promised that I would remember to do that, convener. I ask Dr Watts and Maggie Brünjes to comment.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 4 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Thank you for setting out the position, Mark.
As the convener has said, we have received a number of emails that call for Covid-19 to be made an industrial disease under the new benefit; others have said that women make up just a fraction of the applicants and that the benefit must start to recognise women’s injury and disease in the workplace. Your bill does not propose to do that, so could you tell the committee how it will contribute to dealing with those issues?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 4 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
I will continue the theme of equalities and ask about disabled people who present as homeless. In the interests of time, I will put these questions to Lorraine and Gordon in particular. Will you briefly explain the experience of disabled people who apply through the homelessness route? Are enough accessible homes being built to put people into?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Good morning. I thank the witnesses for coming to the meeting and for your testimony, which is incredibly powerful. I also appreciate the strength of passion and feeling that you bring with it; that is really important for the work that we are doing.
I declare an interest: like other members in the room, during the election campaign, I supported a full and comprehensive ban on conversion therapy. I remain committed to that—the more I hear about conversion therapy, the more I want to introduce a ban as quickly as possible.
My first question is about human rights, although some of it has been answered by what has been said already. I also have a question about the children and young people that the witnesses have worked with.
As you are aware, the committee has heard from a number of faith-based organisations about the human right to religious belief, and your testimony this morning highlights where that interplays and where the line is. What specific human rights are at play in relation to people’s religious rights and people’s right not to be discriminated against on the grounds that they are LGBT+? Can you help us with ways in which we can provide reassurance to people who have those concerns?
Finally, the Rev Elder Maxwell Reay made a point about his work in the children’s hospital. I am keen to hear more about the work that you do around conversion practices in hospitals and the conversations that are taking place, because it is also incredibly important that we work with young people on that.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 2 November 2021
Pam Duncan-Glancy
I will do that and, if it is okay, I will also defer to my colleague Robert McGeachy, who will be able to talk about that in a bit more detail.
Some specific changes have already been made, partly as a commitment and a response by Johann Lamont to the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee in the previous session. They concern section 4, on the duty to comply with the legislation; section 8, on the other duties; section 13, on dispute resolution; section 14, on guidance; and section 15, on directions. Specifically, we have strengthened the draft legislation by adding the need to consult people who are representative of the people on whom the provisions will have an impact, as well as bodies that will have duties and that will need to act. That consulting element will be really important, so that we get the right legislation and so that it is delivered in real life and on the ground, where it affects young disabled people.
Do you have anything to add on that, Robert?