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.
Criathragan Hide all filters
Displaying 2569 contributions
|
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
I have one final point, on which you might be able to provide clarity. The bank receives an allocation for year 1, but drawdowns happen over a period that crosses the annual budgeting period. Therefore, I presume that there are mechanisms in place to ensure that any unallocated capital issued in year 1 can roll over to year 2.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
Financial transactions are not part of the block grant. They have to be repaid, and the obligation to make the repayments is on the Scottish Government. Is there a back-to-back agreement with SNIB in connection with that?
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
Factually, you are absolutely right, convener. Mr Denholm has announced publicly his intention to retire, and I understand that the bank is making arrangements to recruit a new chief executive and has stated that Mr Denholm will remain with the bank in an advisory capacity into 2026, to support transition handover arrangements. If that is consistent with a smooth handover and the transfer of knowledge, and if the bank has the financial resources to allow for those arrangements, that feels appropriate.
On the issue of the turnover, it is perhaps inevitable that there will be a change of leadership in a new organisation that is establishing itself. More generally in the public sector, change and turnover—recruiting and retaining people in senior leadership roles—is challenging for public bodies, as we have commented to the committee in relation to the NHS. I have no further insight into the specifics of the turnover and can refer only to the bank’s public statements—which, I am sure, the committee has seen—about why there has been a change of leadership.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
I will move on to my final question, the subject of which has been touched on already. Because annual budget rules affect the bank’s ability to plan long term, any investments that are made are not for the long term; I note, however, that part of the bank’s responsibility is to provide patient capital. Can you tell us a little bit more about how the accounting rules impact on the bank’s ability to plan long term? Are you aware of engagement between the bank’s leaders and Scottish ministers on providing increased flexibility? After all, it is difficult for a bank to operate within such rigid rules.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
Elements such as giving advice, presumably on how to invest capital, are highly-specialised, highly-paid areas in which people get mega bonuses and so on. How is that compatible with SNIB and, to be blunt, how can it afford that?
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
It is an extremely competitive area that has some really big players. There are a lot of questions about where in the existing market SNIB might fit—or, indeed, whether there is a place that it can fit or find a niche to take on.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
Based on what you have said, it seems that the bank is aware of those risks and is managing them, to the extent that it can.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
What happens if the asset becomes impaired?
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
Given that the whole purpose of the Scottish National Investment Bank is to take on higher-risk assets, the risk that it will end up with impaired assets will be higher. That is part of its job.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scottish National Investment Bank”
Meeting date: 28 May 2025
Colin Beattie
What are the implications of that? Financial transactions have to be repaid, and that obligation is on the Scottish Government and not necessarily on SNIB, unless there is a back-to-back agreement on that. It is likely that, as those transactions come to maturity, that will, in effect, reduce SNIB’s capital, because it will have to return the money to the Scottish Government, which will have an impact on future investment. Given that it has been receiving financial transactions for a number of years, the cumulative effect of those payments down the line could be quite significant.
