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.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
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.
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.
There are two types of keyword search:
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.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
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:
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.
Displaying 2999 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
Convener?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
Excuse me—I am choking on my sandwich. My understanding is that, in the past, there has been informal culling of goats in those communities. Despite the fact that this natural capital company is now applying for a formal licence to do this, my understanding, which might or might not be correct, is that there has, traditionally, been some culling of goats in the area.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
I am interested in your various sectors’ views on the proposed Rosyth-Dunkirk ferry. Could that be beneficial for trade? How might having an SPS agreement help with location of border control posts—or might it even make some of those posts irrelevant? Would it help with achieving frictionless trade? Would it help to get the case for the ferry over the line if the agreement were to be implemented?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
On the point about cost reduction, are you disappointed that there was not, in the agreement, something on free movement of labour? Presumably—as you have already indicated, I think—free movement of labour benefits you in terms of jobs in processing and other jobs?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
Elspeth, does your organisation have a view on that?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
We have talked about the need for flexibility in responding to opportunities and the need to look at processing. What are your thoughts on the UK Government’s announcement of the £360 million fishing and coastal growth fund? Where should that fund be prioritised, and what will the outcome be?
Do you think that we could see an increase in the Scottish fleet or increased investment in processing? What discussions have you had about that already, and what do you anticipate or hope will come out of the fund?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
Oh—sorry. Go ahead, Adam.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 18 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Please record no.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
I will not move amendments 6 to 9, and I will not move amendments 147A and 147B, which were debated with earlier groups.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 June 2025
Mark Ruskell
I pass on apologies from Ariane Burgess, who is convening this morning’s meeting of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.
Amendment 468 seeks to extend the timeline for the requirement for the Scottish Land Commission to produce its strategic plan from every three years to every 10 years. The reason for that change is practical. The strategic plan covers the commissioners’ objectives and priorities for the plan period. Undertaking that work every three years constrains their ability to plan for the longer term and adds a heavy administrative burden on staff every three years.
Given that changes in land ownership and use occur gradually and that that will continue to be the case under the bill, a requirement for the commissioners to produce a plan every 10 years would free up more of their time and allow them to take a longer-term approach to their work. Following conversations with the Scottish Land Commission, Ariane Burgess feels that the proposed change would better match the long-term view that the commission takes of the pattern of Scotland’s land ownership and use.