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 706 contributions
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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 May 2025
Rhoda Grant
It seems to me that it is not altogether clear what regulation with regard to impact assessments would be required. The information that we have is that strategic environmental assessments will not be required, but wider environmental impacts could be considered. It is just not very clear that, given the 3-nautical-mile limit, the legislation that applies further inshore does not apply that far out.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 14 May 2025
Rhoda Grant
What processes take place to consult the fishing industry about all the developments, not just those in aquaculture? I ask that because it feels as though you will be squeezed and squeezed, especially in the case of some of the bigger offshore energy projects. I do not know whether you can work in between those, but I would not have thought so. Are you consulted? Are changes made to accommodate your needs?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 May 2025
Rhoda Grant
We were told in evidence that designations under the habitats regulations, in particular, often homed in on one species rather than the area as a whole and that that could have unintended consequences for other species and different things living in that area. It was felt that it should be a wider process. If a species is under threat, it should be protected, but the impact should be measured of those management techniques on other species in the area and on wider environmental and biodiversity issues.
You have a puzzled look, which suggests that you do not quite understand me.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 May 2025
Rhoda Grant
Would that be the case even if one species was not protected and one was?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 May 2025
Rhoda Grant
I want to ask about the role that the EIA legislation and the habitats regulations play in protecting the environment and biodiversity in Scotland. To what extent can they present barriers to tackling the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 May 2025
Rhoda Grant
I will turn the question on its head slightly. Might you have to do other things—for instance, in relation to another species—that might not necessarily protect the species around which the designation sits? I am trying to remember the case that we were given. Would you have to stop implementing those other policies because they might not sit comfortably in relation to the species that was designated?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Rhoda Grant
What are your views on the strengthened enforcement powers granted to NatureScot under the bill, including the ability to enter land if it has requested information that has not been provided within 10 working days, and the proposed reduction in the standard notice period for entry from 14 to five working days?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Rhoda Grant
Yes, but it does not answer my final question, which was about whether we should set out in the bill examples of when you need to act. Should the bill say that, if, for example, one landowner complains that their efforts in nature restoration are being hampered by another landowner, or if you feel that a river is not being maintained properly with regard to wild salmon, you must take action?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Rhoda Grant
Is there a way of fitting venison into the current meat hygiene system and using abattoirs and the like? In rural areas, we need micro abattoirs in particular. Is there a way of putting venison in with other local produce in a way that would make abattoirs more sustainable and enable more of them to be created? Is that a possible solution?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 30 April 2025
Rhoda Grant
Section 13 will add nature restoration as a reason for intervention in deer management. However, control schemes under section 8 powers of the 1996 act have not been used until quite recently. How would new powers in the bill change NatureScot’s approach to intervention, and should we include in the bill things that you must intervene on?
