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 1621 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
I would like to know who funds the innovation for your hydrogen ferries. I am also intrigued by the fact that you have an automatic ferry that has apparently run already. Where does the funding come from for that? Are the tender companies going to the market to get long-term investment for that? How is it being funded and how is your hydrogen project coming along?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Are there any hydrogen ferries in development? Are there any being deployed? What is the current status?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Where the hydrogen is coming from? Is it naturally sourced from converted wind to green hydrogen?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
We will watch with great interest. Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I will put this question primarily to Robbie Drummond. There seems to be a significant gap in how passengers have described their recent experiences of ferry travel to this committee and the picture that was painted by the statistics and information we received from you—you have latterly given us additional information on that. For example, the committee has heard that people are having to travel several days before a medical appointment on the mainland to ensure that they can get there on time, despite what we hear from CalMac concerning assurances about reliability and arrangements for emergency travel. Why is there this disconnect between what we have been told directly by your passengers on our visits to island communities, and what your organisation has told us is available?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
That is very general and does not tell us what your organisation’s views are. You have implied that people need to be accountable for different parts of the service, but there is the complexity that sometimes CalMac has been blamed for things that are the responsibility of CMAL or perhaps Transport Scotland. I want to draw you out somewhat. Do you think that the current complexity means that there is a lack of responsiveness and accountability?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
I want to take us back to the weather and to Robbie Drummond. We have received a submission from the Mull and Iona Ferry Committee—you will not have seen that, but we are happy for you to respond to it once you have had a chance to see it. The Mull and Iona Ferry Committee has looked at freedom of information data from CalMac over the past 22 years and Met Office analysis of wind recordings, and it has said that the number of weather-related cancellations in comparable winters has increased by around a factor of 10.
Bearing in mind that safety and the decisions of masters are absolutely paramount, the Mull and Iona Ferry Committee’s reflection on the engagement with CalMac is that there are issues relating to the tracking of the weather experience and whether there has been a significant decline, the potential of external factors, tighter regulation, a more litigious environment, and a fear of prosecution of masters. There might be other forces that are perhaps leading to a more restrictive view of whether it is safe to travel.
11:45We also heard that on our visits. Anecdotally, people reflected that, in the past, masters would perhaps have sailed, whereas now they do not.
Feel free to come back to us once you have seen the submission, but do you have any reflections on changing behaviour and who is looking strategically at whether that is really happening? Do you acknowledge that that is happening? Where does that put masters’ decision making? Are they taking more conservative approaches because of the changing nature of potential issues around legal challenges, for example?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Is there any reflection from NorthLink Ferries? You said that weather is less of a disruption for you. Do you have any comments about masters’ judgments and changes in the law over the past 10 to 20 years?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services Inquiry
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
Would Robbie Drummond welcome a more strategic approach? As Mark Ruskell indicated, climate change is happening. What does that mean for our seas and the experience of them? Who takes responsibility for that? Is that simply left to you as an operator to deal with on an operational basis, or do you engage with Transport Scotland on what future needs might be? If we have different types of ferries, such as electric, battery and hydrogen ferries—who knows?—where will the weather analysis come from? Who is leading on that? Who should lead on that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 21 February 2023
Fiona Hyslop
It is clear that churches are concerned. There are many concerns. The fact that, following the transitional period, criminal penalties will apply for non-compliance is of concern to church trustees. Three specified individuals would have to be named. Churches change their office bearers, as do various organisations, so the anxiety is understandable.
I think that you are saying that you think that the extra year will give them more time to do what you wanted them to do in the first place. I am a bit concerned that there has not been the level of engagement that there could have been. I understand that the churches are saying that they have not had a response since their meeting with you in September. Therefore, I think that there is a genuine issue here.
I recognise the need for openness and transparency in land reform, which I am very supportive of, but I think that there are some practical difficulties. Like many organisations that have come through the pandemic, churches are having to re-establish themselves and so on. Can you reassure us that you will continue to engage with the churches in order to work out a way forward, so that the new requirement does not overburden them or worry them unnecessarily?
