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 6583 contributions
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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
I am disappointed that we did not get into the actual facts about muirburn and that the minister did not engage with any of the specific issues that I discussed. I am also disappointed that he does not acknowledge the importance and skills of those who carry out muirburn, or the reasons for it.
To my mind, introducing another level of licensing will lead to a situation in which we will probably end up with so much analysis that there will be paralysis. The environment will suffer, along with all the species that rely on it and the people who live around the edges of that environment.
I am disappointed. However, I would be prepared, if the minister was willing, to engage with him on these specific amendments to see whether there is a way to recognise the reasons for muirburn and the skills of those who do it and to look at whether the limits can be reviewed at stage 3. I am prepared not to move the amendments, on the understanding that I believe that the minister will engage with me.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
Can I check that you are happy that the declaration of interest that I made this morning is extant?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
I am not disputing what you are saying, but how many firefighters have done a muirburn course in the past three years?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
Today is a first for me, for three reasons. First, I have attended three committee meetings today, which is unusual. Secondly, I have heard the minister speak against his own amendment; I never heard of that before. Thirdly, I will speak at length about a subject in the hope of enabling one of the committee members to attend the meeting to vote against my amendments. Those three things are new to me.
My reason for lodging amendment 181 is to ensure that muirburn licences are for muirburn on moorland. It is unclear to me from the legislation that a muirburn licence does not extend beyond moorland.
My definition of “moorland” is heather, which is in the dictionary definition for “muirburn”, and I want to make sure that it does not extend to gorse, broom and grassland. That is why I have lodged amendment 182, which attempts to define what moorland is not: it is not improved grassland or land suitable for arable cropping beyond permanent grassland. All of those are burnt regularly by people, as I am sure that Alasdair Allan will know, to improve and protect grassland and to stop the invasion of species such as broom and gorse. However, they are burnt not only for those reasons but to remove and control pests such as leatherjackets—cranefly larvae—which can destroy grassland very easily. To my mind, the best option for controlling those, in most cases in which they have damaged and killed off grassland, is to burn that grassland rather than spray it. It is an organic way of controlling such species.
Those are the reasons for my two amendments—to define what muirburn is and where it is—and I am interested in hearing the minister’s comments and in seeing whether he has a more eloquent way of describing it.
I move amendment 181.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
I think that you have missed your opportunity, minister. Unless you are going to tell me that you will accept that amendment, I am probably not going to let you in—[Interruption.] Okay—that is even more predictable. That is hugely disappointing, convener—
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
Amendment 14.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
Convener, I am very glad that I gave way to the minister to allow him to agree, albeit partially, with something that I have said.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
No. Technically, managing reseeding on grasslands could fall within the bill’s definition of muirburn. I believe that grassland management is truly important and it is really important for crofters to have that ability, but technically it could fall within the bill’s definition of muirburn, so there could be a problem with Dr Allan’s amendment. Although I support it and would like it to be agreed to, I hope that the minister, if my concerns are right, will work with him to ensure that crofters are given the ability to carry out management of grassland, which is so important to their practices.
I find Rhoda Grant’s amendment 149 interesting. I listened to her arguments and I am swayed by the amendment, so I will be interested to see how the committee votes on it.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
On the ground that there will be further engagement, I am happy not to press the amendment. I am also happy not to move any of the other amendments. I know that you cannot deal with them en bloc, convener, but I am giving you notice of that now, to save the committee’s time and on the understanding that I can further debate the matter with the minister later.
Amendment 22, by agreement, withdrawn.
Section 9 agreed to.
Section 10—Application for muirburn licence
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Edward Mountain
I am pleased to speak to my amendment 20, which seeks to ensure that Scottish Natural Heritage, or NatureScot—whichever name it is trading under on the given date—should
“consult such persons as it considers likely to be interested in or affected by the code of practice, including land managers.”
I think that that is fair, reasonable and inclusive—which the Scottish Government claims to be, so I would be very surprised if the minister were against the amendment.
I am somewhat surprised by amendment 83. I must put it to the person who has moved it, Emma Harper, that she does not know that the use of all medication on land is covered by vets’ prescriptions.
