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.
Criathragan Hide all filters
Displaying 1621 contributions
|
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
Absolutely. It is really important that we have islanders on the board of our organisation, so that will happen.
I do not recognise the terms that you have used. As everybody will understand, board appointments are made in accordance with ethical standards and all the rest of it, and it is made quite clear that reappointments cannot be assumed by anybody. It is important that the board reflects what is needed at the time, both in personnel and in other areas.
The answer to your other question is that, yes, there will be an advertisement very soon, I hope, to ensure that we continue with island representation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
The BBC can sometimes get things incorrect. It did so not least, and quite seriously, when it said that there was a failure to complete sea trials for the MV Islay. That was very serious, so we had to get that amended.
I do not, in fact, have any civil servants in Edinburgh. My civil servants are based in Glasgow. That is one factual inaccuracy. Further, the formal invite to carry out that function was given to a well-respected and well-known islander, and I am glad that she did it. Such speculation also diminishes her role.
Gossip should not end up in reports that I then get asked about. I will stick with the Ethical Standards Commissioner and the correct way to go about these things.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
I have been making sure that, in the meantime, it has been working. The parties have worked together in a constructive way, as has been identified by those who work with that tripartite combination. The joint working between CMAL, CalMac and Transport Scotland officials on the in-person consultations and those organisations all coming together with one voice is really important.
It has been a busy year for ferries, not least given the commissioning and procurement of almost a third of the fleet. CalMac, as I have recognised, now has a direct award. A lot of work by Transport Scotland colleagues and CalMac was involved in producing that.
I have always said that I would be open to a change in governance arrangements. Had such a change happened during the two years since I came into post, it would have disrupted a really important period of intense work with everyone. I was a member of the committee when it took extensive evidence for the ferries inquiry. I remember Monica Lennon and I going on a very informative visit to the Western Isles together, which was before you joined the committee.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
CMAL’s function is absolutely essential. I am open to considering whether its governance arrangements could be handled by bringing different bodies together. Now that we have a direct award for at least one of the partners, we are in a position to more readily consider what we might want to do going forward. I am not closing off that option. Now might be a more appropriate time than any point over the past two years to look at that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
I do not want to go into too much detail, but I think that the situation has improved. That does not mean that there is not an issue, and I am very conscious that you have to look at it. If you are testing whether I am aware of the different things that matter for any future arrangement, including pensions, the answer is yes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
Those are big and major strategic projects. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is leading on putting together what is required for a business case for the Glasgow metro scheme. You will know from your experience on the committee that business cases have to be presented if there is an approach for national funding and so on.
On developments with Aberdeen rapid transit, Aberdeen has led in many ways in terms of using bus. I am less familiar with the third project relating to the south of Scotland—it has not come to me, given the stage that it is at. The business cases will need to come to us when it gets to the point of looking for national funding. In fact, all those projects are still some distance away. Local authorities will identify what funding they have to bring, and, given that the projects are longer term, what financial mechanisms they might want to deploy, using their borrowing and other powers, to help to finance the roll-out. Consideration of that aspect is really important. A lot of advisory work goes on in that regard, with Transport Scotland providing that advice.
There is also a lot of planning work. Indeed, the other day, I had a debrief from people who are involved with the national census, who told me about the statistics and information that they have at a micro level, which are helping to inform the plans for the Glasgow metro.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
The partnerships are not accountable to me. We have set out the plans, the projects and the priorities in relation to where we will provide support, but it is important to note that there is not a command-and-control aspect regarding the projects.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
On the basis that it will require regulations, and on the basis that your committee is extremely busy, I do not think that we will necessarily have time to do what we would need to do. However, when I receive the responses to the consultation, I want to ensure that I can take a view and inform the incoming Government as to what it might want to do.
I cannot give you a definitive timescale, but I am conscious that, to give effect to some of those aspects, it will require legislation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
The consultation is closed. There are a great deal of responses, so we are having—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Transport Policies and Performance
Meeting date: 7 October 2025
Fiona Hyslop
You also asked about the 20mph speed limit. All the local authorities have set out how they will do that. It has already been rolled out in many areas; in many other areas, the roll-out is a wee bit slower. I will dare to say that my local area of West Lothian is perhaps slower than other areas.
What is really important, though—and we know this from the history of moving to the 20mph speed limit in different parts of the United Kingdom—is that there is a strong consensus on doing this at the local level and on a cross-party basis. I am confident that it will be rolled out—and rolled out effectively—by the end of the year in every single local authority. I cannot take responsibility for every single one of those local authorities, but the vast majority are well on their way to delivery.
