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 2114 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
We have listened carefully to all the evidence. It might be helpful for me to set out a rationale for why we approached the threshold in the way that we did. In the consultation that we undertook for the bill, we consulted on having a 3,000 hectares threshold, largely because if the provisions applied to estates larger than around 3,000 hectares the bill would take in about 40 per cent of the land area in Scotland.
We are trying to get the balance right when considering the burden that we are putting on landholdings in relation to the land management plan, obligations for community engagement and associated costs. We are considering all the evidence that the committee has taken and we are looking at the recommendations made by the Land Commission. However, ultimately, we are trying to get the balance right so that we do not put a disproportionate burden on smaller landholdings.
I hope that that explanation of our approach is helpful. We are considering the evidence.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
I have set out the initial rationale for the threshold, but we are keen to take on board the evidence that the committee has heard, to think about whether the current level is suitable, and to hear whether the committee has any suggestions for alternatives. We want to balance all those considerations, including the impact on smaller landholders of some of the community engagement obligations. We are listening to the evidence that the committee has heard, because we want to ensure that there is transparency.
We have the land rights and responsibilities statement. Some landowners are doing very good things and are looking to engage and involve communities in the decisions that they take. However, that approach is not universal or widespread, which is why we want to introduce the land management plan obligations and community engagement provisions. I am open to views on what the thresholds for those might look like.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
Yes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
There will be consultation on exactly what could be included. If the committee is of the view that amendments are needed to clarify that, we will consider that view. However, I come back to the point that we have tried to strike the right balance by ensuring that there is flexibility for different landholdings while setting out our overarching objectives in the primary legislation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
Absolutely. I hope that the process of the land management plans encourages that greater dialogue to take place, so that those discussions are not happening in separate places, if that makes sense.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
The guidance that accompanies the bill will be important in setting that out. The process could be quite a daunting prospect for some, but some will already be doing such work. We want to make sure that people are engaging in best practice when they undertake consultation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
Yes. Again, we are considering all that, at the moment. There is no set way forward, so we are working through the matter. We have heard the evidence and, of course, we want to address it, if possible.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
Again, the alternatives that were considered are set out in the policy memorandum to the bill. There were a number of considerations that we consulted on, but we feel that our proposals on pre-notification, increasing transparency and allowing further opportunities for communities to take ownership of land are key.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
First, I want to clearly set out that the transfer test is a public interest test. It does not use those exact two words, but that is what the transfer test is: it will ensure that we take the public interest into consideration when a land transfer involves more than 1,000 hectares. Various proposals emerged about where the test should fall, whether it could fall on the buyer and the different ways in which it could work. However, the transfer test has been introduced on the basis of the evidence that we have and our ability to implement it, because the only way that we can implement a public interest test is by doing a test at the point of transfer of land.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 18 February 2025
Mairi Gougeon
We had to introduce the provisions in the way that we have to ensure that the transfer test will take place at that point. That is not to say that all the land that goes through the transfer test would necessarily be lotted. That might not always be the case—there is a whole process that is set out in the provisions of the bill. There could be a transfer of land at scale.
What we are providing through pre-notification is, first of all, a route for communities to enable that to happen. However, if land was to be transferred that had not been lotted and that was above the threshold, any new owner would be expected to undertake the requirements that we are looking at through the land management plan provisions and community engagement.
