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 1067 contributions
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Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
The regulations have been worked through over a period of time with the expert committee and various players in the sector that come at the matter from different perspectives in order to ensure that problems have—as I hope—been ironed out. Are there any consequences in particular that you have concerns or thoughts about?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
First, I suppose that you could flip that around and ask what is the problem with having that requirement in regulations if it is working and everyone is happy with it.
Secondly, there is an issue in that there is the potential for operation of a two-tier system because not everyone is signed up to the voluntary code. It is worth noting a recent legal case in which the sheriff was clear that the voluntary code does not have a statutory basis.
On the specific example that you have mentioned—colleagues might want to talk to this—the reality is that AIB engages extensively throughout the process. You and I would see only the cases that get to the application stage, but an awful lot more cases are, I expect, headed off at the pass—if I can use that term—during the conversations that AIB has in order to ensure that people are able to work within the process and that they do not have to take cases to the final stage. Do officials want to add anything?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
Do you mean for debtors?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
I do not have that information in front of me. I assume that it is not secret.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
We have taken some advice and have consulted on that. The conclusion was that, at the moment, if people charge fees to provide that work, misselling is being effectively combated by the existing process. There was also a danger that there could be unintended consequences if accountants or other professionals are not able to bring forward cases or point people in the right direction. On balance, and having sounded the matter out with sector stakeholders, we felt that we did not need to put that particular requirement into the regulations.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
The voluntary code was a step in the right direction. It brought in the requirements that were felt to be necessary, and which have since proved to be necessary: I think that we would all agree that the voluntary code has been working.
However, as I indicated in my opening remarks, we have a two-tier system and not all providers are operating under the voluntary code. The reason for the change is to ensure that the remaining challenge is dealt with and that the requirements in the voluntary code are brought into legislation so that everyone has to comply with them. Along with other measures that are in the provision, that provides security and comfort to those who are involved in the process.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
The regulations should offer more protection. As I have said, putting the voluntary code on a statutory footing removes the two-tier system and the potential for people not to apply the voluntary code. The regulations give clarity on the process so that everybody will know what it is.
Tomorrow, we will deal in Parliament with the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill. One of the provisions in that bill is on provision of a leaflet with information on the cooling-off period and so on, which is also helpful.
It is clear that the process that has been worked through was to bring in, through the consultation and through the expert panel, people who understand the process. As you have rightly identified, that includes debt advice charities and organisations and others. I hope that they will be able to reflect the perspectives and needs of debtors who will use the process.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
I hear what you are saying. I do not want to cast aspersions, and I am not familiar with the providers or with anyone who might want to come into the market, but the other way to look at it is that you would want any providers of protected trust deeds to comply with the voluntary code. Protecting that and putting it in statute will ensure that other players that might want to come into the market are on a level playing field with everyone else. More important is that it would protect the debtors and creditors that are involved in the process. Putting the voluntary code on a statutory footing allows us to do that for any providers that are coming into the market or anyone who is already in it.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
I do not, for the reasons that I have identified.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 5 June 2024
Ivan McKee
I can understand that observation. To be fair, I note that I was not aware of the committee’s membership. However, if people from the money advice sector or people with other perspectives are on the committee, I am sure that they will make their voices heard. The committee is there to gather views and to reflect and sense check, and to see whether there might be unintended consequences. I am sure that its members would be well able to highlight where they saw concerns, and that those concerns would be taken on board. However, if you require any more information about the committee, I will seek to get it.
