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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Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Also in relation to this instrument, there has been a failure to comply with section 28(2) of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, which requires that instruments subject to the negative procedure are laid at least 28 days before they come into force, not counting recess periods of more than four days. The instrument was laid on 25 March 2022 and came into force on 1 April 2022, except for regulations 2 to 5, as I have mentioned.
In correspondence with the Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government explained that it had consulted on regulations reforming the member contribution structure, which were due to come into force on 1 April 2022. The Government highlighted that Her Majesty’s Treasury was involved in the consultation process on the instrument. However, towards the end of the consultation process, HM Treasury changed its position and, on 18 February 2022, advised the Scottish Government that certain reforms that had been proposed should be delayed until 1 October 2022, because of the impact that they were set to have on lower and middle-earning NHS staff in the current economic climate. Alternative provision was required to extend the current member contribution rates in lieu of the member contribution reform that has been postponed by HM Treasury.
Does the committee also wish to draw the instrument to the attention of the Parliament on reporting ground (j), for failure to comply with laying requirements?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments not subject to Parliamentary Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Does the committee wish to welcome the fact that SSI 2022/135 fulfils a commitment that was given by the Lord President’s private office to rectify referencing errors in SSI 2021/452 and SSI 2021/468 in respect of the sheriff appeal court rules 2015 and 2021?
Members indicated agreement.
10:14 Meeting continued in private until 10:33.Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Decision on Taking Business in Private
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Welcome to the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee’s 13th meeting in 2022. Before we move to the first item on the agenda, I remind everyone present to switch their mobile phones to silent.
The first item of business is to decide whether to take items 5 and 6 in private. Is the committee content to take those items in private?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
At the same time, does the committee wish to note the Scottish Government’s proposal to include a provision in a future SSI to insert the missing part of the title of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 809/2014 into regulation 3(1)?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instrument subject to Affirmative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Under agenda item 2, we are considering an instrument subject to the affirmative procedure, on which no points have been raised.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instrument subject to Affirmative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Is the committee content with the instrument?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
The instrument temporarily permits the use of an alternative and quicker rabies antibody titration test. The instrument was made on 8 April 2022 and came into force the following day. It therefore breaches the 28-day rule in section 28(2) of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
In correspondence with the Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government explained that a breach of the laying requirements was necessary, as urgent action was needed to relieve the current pressures on quarantine facilities as a result of the high volume of pets entering the United Kingdom from Ukraine.
Does the committee wish to draw the instrument to the attention of the Parliament on reporting ground (j), for failure to comply with laying requirements?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Does the committee wish to write to the Scottish Government to invite it to consider legislating to make it easier for the user to understand the provisions of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 809/2014, which apply differently in relation to direct payment support and to agricultural support?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
The instrument makes temporary modifications, until 31 October, to existing regulations to ensure that healthcare professionals who have recently retired can return to work, and that those who have already returned can increase their hours without there being a negative impact on their pension entitlements. The instrument also amends existing pensions regulations to insert new tables reflecting revised employee contribution rates from 1 April 2022.
In correspondence with the Scottish Government, the committee highlighted that regulation 1(3) provides that regulations 2 to 5 come into force immediately after the expiry of section 46 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. Section 46 expired at the end of 24 March 2022, which is before the instrument was made at 10.13 am the following day.
In response, the Scottish Government explained that it was intended that regulations 2 to 5 would have retrospective effect, and it was regrettable that the provision could be read instead as coming into force at the relevant date. In line with proper drafting practice, the instrument should have been made and then come into force, with separate provision made regarding retrospective effect.
Does the committee wish to draw the instrument to the Parliament’s attention on the general reporting ground, for a failure to follow proper drafting practice, as provision should have been made for regulations 2 to 5 to have retrospective effect rather than coming into force prior to the instrument being made?
Members indicated agreement.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Instruments not subject to Parliamentary Procedure
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Stuart McMillan
Is the committee content with the instruments?
Members indicated agreement.
