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 639 contributions
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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
BBC Scotland
Meeting date: 15 May 2025
Keith Brown
Your point, then, is that an on-going, long-term commitment provides better opportunities for diversity, equality and inclusion.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
BBC Scotland
Meeting date: 15 May 2025
Keith Brown
On jobs and the opportunities that they create, Frank Gallagher was making a point about the authentic Scottish voice. None of those other options would necessarily replicate what “River City” does in that regard. The BBC is turning down the voice of Scotland through this, and there is no guarantee that what “River City” provides would be replaced or replicated.
It is a kind of cultural vandalism, because we will end up with a situation in which, I would imagine, we will be surprised to hear a Scottish voice on a soap or drama from elsewhere in the UK, rather than a situation in which somebody knows that they can tune into something where they will hear something that they can relate to, because it is in their own voice. Would that be your view, Frank Gallagher?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
BBC Scotland
Meeting date: 15 May 2025
Keith Brown
Thanks, panel. I am conscious that last night I paid my licence fee and I should also confess that I am a sporadic viewer of “River City”. It is one of those things that I have dipped into and watched sometimes. I know a number of people who have worked on it, including members of the cast and at least two of the writers who have been involved in it. The point has been made that much of its value is to do with it being almost a media cultural college for Scotland. It is a central pillar of media in Scotland.
I understand the point that has been made about the three dramas: they would be no replacement for what is there just now. I know that we want to make sure that “River City” stays, but if we are ever to convince—it is a big if—the BBC to spend the money it gets in Scotland in Scotland on something other than “River City”, what would be needed for to replicate its impact? Would a soap, with all the on-going opportunities that that provides, be the only thing that could replace what is there just now and have the same effect?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
This point is probably also for Rachael McKechnie. When it came to the bid, was any consideration given to whether Scotland could have two venues and was Murrayfield stadium considered? The potential number of people who want to visit Scotland and Edinburgh and the bigger capacity at Murrayfield stadium might have been attractive. Is what we have just a factor of more or less equitable distribution among the different home nations? Was the decision partly about criteria for the number of corporate ticket places that are available, which Murrayfield stadium did not qualify for? I do not know whether you know.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
On the point about protests and so on, Police Scotland did a superb job for the 26th UN climate change conference of the parties when they pre-engaged with different groups. The engagement for COP26 was huge—it was on a much bigger scale for all sorts of reasons—but I hope that there will be a similar approach in this case, although the senior personnel have all changed.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
We were talking about that before we came in. Remind me, what led to the UK getting the championship?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
I understand the point. I think that it will be important for the Parliament to have that information before it takes a decision in due course.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
I think that the reason that you gave for that was that it was deemed, in discussions with others, to be disproportionate to extend the offence outwith Scotland. What about the reverse? Are you expecting legislation from anywhere else that is hosting a match to reach into Scotland, for example to prevent touting in Scotland for matches held in England? Or is everyone is just looking after their own patch, and the internet will be the internet?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
Would that mean that Hampden stadium, with a capacity, as has been mentioned, of around 52,000, would be unlikely to be chosen as a venue for a later stage match?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee [Draft]
UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 8 May 2025
Keith Brown
My very last point is just to say that Murrayfield stadium has hosted football matches before.
Not that it is likely to trouble Scotland, but what are the criteria for which stadiums will be chosen for the later stages of the competition? Does it depend on who is still in?
