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
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
We will be discussing these things with other administrations and working jointly with them as we develop FMPs. I would just note that although we have not set out anything beyond that timescale, the timescales for developing the FMPs set out in the JFS will be very challenging to meet. It is important that we focus on the stocks that we have highlighted as a priority, but that is not to say that there will be no other FMPs. The issue will be subject to review, but I think that that is where we need to focus. Instead of setting out some definitive list of every stock that we would look to consider and the timescales in that respect, we need to focus on this initial set of FMPs.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
We will be closely monitoring the work on developing FMPs for non-quota stocks that other administrations are leading on. As I have said and as Paul McCarthy has highlighted, that work will be very complex, and it is important that we continue to monitor it before we set out what FMPs we plan to take forward in that area.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
Yes, there were discussions between the four Administrations in setting out the JFS. I am glad that we have been able to align on the policies and objectives that are set out in it.
Stakeholder engagement has been critical to that. In the development of the JFS, a community of interest sought to gather stakeholder views from throughout the UK and kept stakeholders involved throughout the process.
Perhaps Paul McCarthy or Allan Gibb will want to say more about stakeholder engagement.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
It is not possible for me to say at the moment. That detail will come when I look to make that announcement.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
What we have set out will help to tackle the issues that there have been. We believe that the practical measures can be adhered to and will help us to tackle some of the challenges. We are in the middle of the consultation process, so we await further feedback on the issue.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
We would need to implement the policy that would deliver on the objective.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
Yes, I am happy to do that. It would not be for the JFS to set out the detail of how that will be delivered; as I said, it sets out the high-level policy ambitions. Ultimately, it is the policies and the delivery mechanisms that we introduce that will achieve the objectives that are set out in the act.
You correctly referred to the future catching policy. I mentioned in a previous response how that meets the other objectives. In relation to the bycatch objective, the technical and spatial measures that we have set out as part of the consultation will help us to deliver on the bycatch objective. Those measures are out to consultation. We have developed the proposals in consultation with our stakeholders and with industry. It is crucial that the policy that we introduce will work and will be effective in tackling the issues. The future catching policy is out to consultation, and we will consider any correspondence that comes in as a result of that.
Allan Gibb would like to come in on that point, too.
10:45Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
We have set out a high level of ambition in the JFS because it shows our ambitions for our fishing industry and marine environment. We want to have a profitable industry and, as part of that, a healthy marine environment. It sets out a world-leading ambition.
There have been concerns expressed by various stakeholders about specific details that are not included in the statement. However, as I said in my opening statement, not only is it important that we have the overall high-level ambitions that we seek to achieve and that we are aligned on them, but it is vital that it is up to each Administration to determine and set out how the policy objectives will be achieved and that, in that sense, the JFS respects devolution.
The committee will be aware of the statement that I made to Parliament last week, which is a good example of that. In that statement, I set out what we intend to do on our future catching policy and remote electronic monitoring. Those two policies are out to consultation at the moment. That shows how we are actively delivering on the ambitions that have been set out in the JFS and how we intend to deliver on them through the strategies and policies that we have set out. We will continue to do that.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
Yes. Transparency and accountability are important.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 March 2022
Mairi Gougeon
It is important to remember that, as part of the process, there will be regular reviews of and reports on the JFS and the fisheries management plans that we will introduce. I think that there will be a review every three years and a report every six years. Therefore, we will have to show how we have achieved the policy ambitions that are in the JFS.
I come back to the point that we have a strong track record of co-management and working with our stakeholders. As I said, the Clyde cod closure is an example of where that did not work, which we have accepted. We want to learn lessons from that. It is important that we do that and that we work with our stakeholders to implement the policies and the objectives that are set out in the JFS.