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 3291 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
I want to stay on flooding and on the investment issue. We have had evidence from Audit Scotland that the costs of the major flood management schemes—the concrete schemes, I guess you could call them—have trebled over the past decade. Bearing in mind what you said earlier about the potential impacts, in particular if we start looking at going beyond an increase of 2°C, is that balance right at the moment? Is there a need to think again about preventative measures, nature-based solutions and catchment management?
At the moment, it feels as though a blend of solutions emerges. We try not to build on the carses and the meadows if we can, although housing developments still happen. There is a nod to nature-based solutions within catchment management, but it never feels as though they become a major part of our approach to flood mitigation. Given the spiralling costs, what do the future options look like?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
Is it a concern that the baseline keeps shifting, though? For example, the flood defence scheme that was built in Brechin was originally designed to deal with a one-in-50-years event. Now the figure has changed to a one-in-20-years event. Is there not an issue there with the assessment of risk changing and that what we would design for a relatively commonplace event is now being blown out of the water, quite literally?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
I am content that the instrument would align us with some of the international conventions on mercury, which are about protecting human health and the environment. However, I would like the UK Government to go further and align with the European Union, particularly on areas such as the use of mercury, amalgam in dentistry and sodium lights, and a range of other areas. It would be useful to get the Scottish Government’s view on whether it wants to work towards alignment with the EU in relation to mercury-added products. If so, I would like to know how it is working on a four-nations basis with ministers from across the UK to achieve that, and by when.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
The goal of the Paris agreement is to keep well below 2°C, and even then there will be a significant global impact. Quite frankly, I am horrified at what you are saying about 3°C, and even the prospect of 4°C. It is easy for these numbers to slip off the tongue, but can you say in a nutshell what 4°C would mean globally?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
Do you think that the Scottish Government’s current infrastructure investment plan recognises that scenario of 3°C or 4°C? Is that baked into it?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
You inspired me, convener. Richard Millar, the CCC puts forward different pathways. You have a balanced pathway and a high ambition pathway. Given what you have said about 3°C and 4°C, should we not be going for the high ambition pathway? Given the threats that you have outlined today, the tipping points and the catastrophic impacts of potentially going above 2°C, should we not be going for a higher ambition rather than balancing things out?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
What would that mean for the UK?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
So the approach is very much about creating the right foundation for adaptation now—in the next decade or two—and then being able to build on that, rather than say, “Okay. This community is unliveable. We need to abandon it” or, for instance, in a coastal community, “We cannot build our way out of this. We cannot adapt”.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
But not 3°C?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Meeting date: 18 November 2025
Mark Ruskell
Are some of those infrastructure solutions scalable? You mentioned the Thames barrier. Did we have a 3°C or 4°C world in mind when options were being looked at for that? Could future investment in the next five to 10 years be scaled up in the decades ahead to meet the needs of a 3°C or 4°C warming world, or do you reach a point where you say, “Okay, we are just going to have to think again”?
