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 878 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Environmental Regulation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
Yes—we will move on to Falkirk.
I want to unpick that a wee bit further. How much of the surface water and sewerage pollution that is caused in the system is generated by changes in our climate or by poor infrastructure investment planning?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Environmental Regulation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
Of course. That is helpful, and it would be helpful if you could provide that data.
Are there gaps in our waste management capacity in Scotland that result in waste having to be outsourced to other parts of the UK or other parts of Europe for processing? If so, why is that the case?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
I am not asking you to give us that information here and now, but do you hold that data?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
Did the CPT accept the modelling output?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Environmental Regulation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
That is helpful.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Environmental Regulation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
That is helpful. There is no doubt in my mind that we are experiencing more intense local weather events than we have experienced historically. At times, such events overwhelm existing infrastructure, no matter how well maintained it is, because it is not able to cope with the intensity, so the need for climate adaptation is becoming more and more apparent here. Given the nature and intensity of such events and the frequency with which they are occurring, you are suggesting that greater climate adaptation through infrastructure planning will become more important.
You will have a good understanding of where the hotspots are in relation to existing infrastructure that is struggling to cope and is resulting in a negative impact on our environment. If Scottish Water, for example, knows such information, is there shared understanding between it and SEPA, as public bodies, of the key infrastructure investment that should be made to maximise mitigation of the risk of negative environmental impacts? Is that reflected in Scottish Water’s infrastructure investment plan? You probably cannot speak for Scottish Water, but do you have a single shared plan that addresses the environmental risks and deals with the infrastructure investment that is needed to mitigate risks?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Environmental Regulation
Meeting date: 25 February 2025
Michael Matheson
It would be helpful to understand that. I understand that, from a regulatory point of view—and you emphasised that SEPA has an advisory role as well—it is important to try to manage waste as close to source as possible, while reducing it as much as possible to fit in with the principles of the circular economy. We do not have sufficient capacity in particular areas of waste management, so we need to look at increasing that capacity in order to deal with more of our waste here. Further, in areas where we have no capacity at all, we have to look at developing capacity for that waste to be managed here. I am trying to get SEPA’s perspective and the advice that you give on that
I am trying to understand. I know that the issue does not all sit with you, as Zero Waste Scotland and others have an interest in it, but you work in partnership with them, as you mentioned. I am trying to get a picture from you—the regulator—of your advice and what we need to do to increase our capacity in waste management in Scotland. Are you able to provide that?
11:15Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Michael Matheson
Okay. I will take that as you being open to persuasion on the possible timeframe.
I turn to the way in which land management plans are to be taken forward and who is to take them forward. As the bill stands, the land management plans are intended only for pieces of land of more than 3,000 hectares, and that is limited to single, composite and contiguous holdings.
The cabinet secretary will be well aware of the significant commercial holdings of land that are owned by companies and that are all under the threshold, although in some cases those companies are in the top five landholders in Scotland. They would be left out. They would not be covered by the existing definition of how land management plans should be applied. Has any thought been given to including aggregated or corporate holdings in a way that would allow us to make sure that we are capturing what are very significant landholders who, because of the nature of the parcel of land that they own, fall under the threshold for a land management plan?
10:00Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Michael Matheson
I understand your point. However, if the transfer test is a public interest test in essence, albeit not in name, I am still not clear why we cannot be more specific in statute about exactly what will be taken into account in terms of the public interest. I understand that we have done that in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, so I struggle to understand why this bill should be treated differently.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Michael Matheson
I understand that, but I do not understand why you are asserting that it is not necessary to spell that out in the bill, given that, as I understand it, we spell it out in other legislation. Why not spell it out in this bill, too?
