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 2121 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 3 September 2024
Bob Doris
It is the converse, actually. The briefings that I have looked at ahead of today’s meeting say that if enforcement officers were not clear about whether items were single-use vapes, they could hesitate and not seize the items at that point. However, if the powers were drawn more broadly, they could seize the items, establish that they were single-use vapes and retain them. The instrument defines single-use vapes; it does not cover items that are suspected to be single-use vapes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 3 September 2024
Bob Doris
That is helpful. There was an announcement in 2022 that 65 per cent of Scotland’s train fleet would be replaced as part of modernisation and decarbonisation. I was just trying to check whether this initiative sits as part of that wider commitment. I am happy to take more information at a later date, cabinet secretary.
My second question is about the procurement process. Clearly, I want to make sure that Scottish companies can be part of the procurement supply chain. As I have done before, I note that I am delighted that the Caley works has reopened in Springburn and is now in the business of modernising and building trains, through Gibson’s Engineering Ltd. I just want to make sure that Scottish companies—wherever they are in Scotland—can be part of that huge economic, employment and skills opportunity, and get a slice of that very welcome announcement. Will the procurement process make sure that there is weighting towards Scottish supply chain businesses?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 3 September 2024
Bob Doris
I have a couple of brief questions, cabinet secretary. First, can I check whether the announcement today is set in the context of the 2022 strategy and the Scottish Government’s commitment to replace 65 per cent of the train fleet, or about 675 carriages? That was placed on the Public Contracts Scotland website at the time. Is the announcement part of that wider modernisation and decarbonisation process?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 3 September 2024
Bob Doris
If there is a grey area, I simply ask for a wee bit of clarity. I ask the cabinet secretary to give a commitment that, once the regulations are passed and we move into the enforcement stage, the issue will be kept under review and you will continue to work with trading standards to see whether there are any issues regarding enforcement.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 3 September 2024
Bob Doris
Yes.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 27 June 2024
Bob Doris
My apologies, minister, because I should have known the answer to the second part of the question. You are open minded about having more detail in the bill, but you obviously want to keep your powder dry at this stage, because of the engagement that you will have during the summer. However, I also asked you whether any secondary legislation or guidance will come back to the committee for scrutiny and what the process is. Hold on to that thought, though.
You mentioned ALACHO. Its concern is that the default action will be to refer back to the local authority, which defeats the purpose of the legislation. What reassurances can you give ALACHO that that will not become the default option?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 27 June 2024
Bob Doris
Does that mean that you would seek an ask and act protocol, if we can call it that? You could say to the Home Office and the DWP, for example, that this is what we are asking public bodies in Scotland to do, that we think that it is best practice and that we would like to agree a protocol in relation to it. Is that something that you will take forward?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 27 June 2024
Bob Doris
Before I ask my final question, I draw your attention to the work that this committee is doing on the housing emergency in Glasgow and the Home Office’s fast-tracking of asylum claims. I will not say any more just now, but I am sure that you are familiar with it. Please look into that issue, because there are certain things relating to homelessness and prevention duties that the Home Office is not ensuring take place.
My final question is about what is not in the legislation that could have been. The homelessness prevention review group considered a variety of things and made various recommendations, but not all of them made it into the legislation. One of the recommendations concerns the fact that the many different organisations that have ask and act duties have to talk to each other, and there is going to be overlap and, with regard to particularly complex cases, a need for co-ordination. A mechanism for that co-ordination was recommended, but it is not included in the bill. That is just one example. Perhaps you could say why that was not included and speak more generally about whether you are open to any additions as we go through the parliamentary process.
09:30Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 27 June 2024
Bob Doris
I am sorry that I cannot join you in person, but I have had to remain in Glasgow.
Minister, in your opening statement you spoke about working with partners to tease out the details of what the ask and act duty might mean in practice. In evidence, we heard concern about the lack of clarity about what the duty would mean in practice, so it is encouraging that you said that you are working with partners on that. Can you confirm whether you are open minded to some more details appearing in the bill as opposed to in secondary legislation or in statutory guidance? Can you give us a little bit of a feel for what the process of parliamentary scrutiny will be? Would the committee not see the guidance ahead of it being implemented, or would that be in secondary legislation, which would mean that the committee could take a view on it?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 27 June 2024
Bob Doris
That is helpful, minister. I apologise for being discourteous, but you did not mention co-ordination of complex cases. Police Scotland, the national health service and education professionals are all worried about tenancies being sustained. Who is leading on this? Who is co-ordinating particularly complex cases? How will that be taken forward?