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 2048 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Zero Waste Scotland
Meeting date: 6 May 2025
Bob Doris
So, that does not happen now, but it is where we have to get to.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Zero Waste Scotland
Meeting date: 6 May 2025
Bob Doris
I will ask the question another way. It is fortunate that the new properties are being built and that the contractors are taking the reuse approach. If that had been a demolition-only job, is there a reuse hub in Glasgow that the material could have gone to? What would have happened?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Zero Waste Scotland
Meeting date: 6 May 2025
Bob Doris
I want to ask about the ban on sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill that is coming in this December. We are on track, apparently, to be ready for that, and I see from the committee paper that Zero Waste Scotland has commissioned a study on preparedness for it. I acknowledge there is also on-going consultation about biodegradable non-municipal waste. There is a lot of change in this area.
Do you have any comments on preparedness for the ban? I ask that you refer in particular to whether there are implications for the incineration of waste or for waste export. What are the intended and unintended consequences? Where are we on meeting the December target? Is that one for you to comment on, Jane?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Zero Waste Scotland
Meeting date: 6 May 2025
Bob Doris
I can only refer to the committee paper, Iain, because I am not an expert on this. I am asking about the ban on sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill by December. I am sure that that would be residual waste. If you have textiles and wood that has been put into a mainstream pathway for reuse and recycling and all that kind of thing that is not residual waste.
I am guessing, and the committee paper does do not say whether that refers to residual waste. The paper refers to biodegradable municipal waste that local authorities will be banned from putting to landfill by December.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Zero Waste Scotland
Meeting date: 6 May 2025
Bob Doris
I come back to waste exports. Incineration is an appropriate pathway, but we should not be overreliant on it. Jane Beasley mentioned other potential solutions. What happens to waste when it is exported under licence? Are we just offshoring some of our responsibilities, or is the waste dealt with appropriately once it leaves Scotland? Obviously, there is a carbon cost to exporting it in the first place.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Financial Considerations When Leaving an Abusive Relationship
Meeting date: 1 May 2025
Bob Doris
I am sure that they will do. Your points are well made. I do not want to get into the weeds of whether universal credit claimants should have a five-week wait in the first place—that is a highly politicised line. However, the fact that someone who is fleeing domestic and economic abuse should be immediately indebted, having struggled to make a claim while still in the abusive household, is a significant issue.
Dr Glinski, would you suggest that there should be a specific point of contact in universal credit or the Department for Work and Pensions whereby a woman—it is invariably a woman—who is seeking to flee an abusive relationship can have a private and confidential claims pathway for universal credit that would not involve a five-week wait so that they can get their ducks in a row before they leave the abusive household? I do not want to put words in your mouth, but the committee needs to identify conclusions as well as looking at the issues. Does that seem reasonable?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Financial Considerations When Leaving an Abusive Relationship
Meeting date: 1 May 2025
Bob Doris
Good morning, everyone. I will come first to Dr Glinski with a specific question, but I flag up to the other witnesses that, in a moment, I will ask about how the benefits and entitlement systems in the United Kingdom and in Scotland could work more effectively, what they do well and what they could improve on. That is not the first question; I just want to set the context so that you can get your answers ready.
Dr Glinski, I want to ask you specifically about the fund to leave pilot, which ran from October 2023 until March last year. It was a £500,000 fund that provided up to £1,000 for each victim/survivor who took the plunge—it is a major decision—and left home. If the fund were to be introduced more widely, what changes would you make to it? What worked well in the pilot? The committee would find it helpful to get that on the record, and then we can look at the ways in which other systems can provide financial support. Could you comment on that, please?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Financial Considerations When Leaving an Abusive Relationship
Meeting date: 1 May 2025
Bob Doris
If a woman is seriously considering leaving an economically abusive relationship, they need to make sure that they are clear about their entitlements, and they need to be able to make a claim independently of the abusive individual, and to do so privately. There needs to be expertise, and there should not be a five-week wait to get access to cash. I am thinking about what an ethical and appropriate system would be. It could be totally different from what I have described, but, as the committee will have to make recommendations at some point, what do you think that an appropriate system would look like?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Financial Considerations When Leaving an Abusive Relationship
Meeting date: 1 May 2025
Bob Doris
It is very helpful that you have put that on the record.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Financial Considerations When Leaving an Abusive Relationship
Meeting date: 1 May 2025
Bob Doris
I am hearing voices saying that they support rolling the fund out nationally, reviewing the payment levels and ensuring that there is consistency and appropriate levels of awareness and signposting, but I am not hearing calls to fundamentally change the fund as it existed in the pilot.
Do you want to add anything on that, Stuart?
