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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Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
We have sought to support public sector pay in a way that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge that we face with the inflationary pressures. Thankfully, we have seen some signs of inflation beginning to fall, which clearly will create a different economic and fiscal context for future rounds of negotiations. However, I entirely agree with the implicit point in your question, Ms Smith: this has created exceptional in-year pressures, and those pressures will have to be carried forward. We are giving very careful consideration to that in our spending plans for the next financial year.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
With regard to returns to the centre, there is no unallocated funding, as Niall Caldwell has said. That overall position supports everything that is set out in allocations. Clearly, though, the majority of funding allocated in the ABR is to support local government pay, including the teachers’ pay settlement.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
There has been a reprofiling, but there has been no loss of spend on the front line. It is just a reprofiling across years.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
I would be happy to get back to you on the matter and provide some more detail. I stress that part of that reprofiling is a flexibility that is given to local government. There is no loss of spend on the front line—I just want to be clear on that point.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
It will be set out as part of the budget process for future years’ budgets. Of course, we are still to see the autumn statement and forecasts ahead of setting our own budget, but it will be taken as part of that process.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
First, there is, of course, a dedicated rural affairs, land reform and islands portfolio, but we also recognise that rural affairs interests are supported across a range of portfolios. In certain areas, we have sought to be more effective in getting money out the door earlier through, for example, the basic payment schemes and greening advances.
As for the decision-making process, with a set of circumstances such as those that we have faced this financial year—and, indeed, the previous financial year—we have to look for opportunities to generate efficiencies that can then be returned to the centre to support the in-year fiscal position, particularly to meet emerging pressures such as public sector pay. The particular example that we are considering here relates to the rural affairs, land reform and islands portfolio, but opportunities to generate savings will be looked at across Government. Sometimes that can mean rephasing or reprofiling particular budget lines, but the aim is to generate revenue internally in order to support the in-year budget position to meet challenges.
For example, if you have a demand-led scheme but demand is not what was forecast, that provides a source of revenue that can be redeployed. If there is slippage, perhaps in a capital project, that, too, provides an opportunity for redeployment. It is a continuous, on-going process that is part of the in-year budget management process.
Is there anything that you want to add, Niall?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
As that is a technical matter, I will ask Craig if he wants to explain.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
I am not in a position to give a detailed answer, but I will ask my officials at the Scottish Public Pensions Agency to contribute to a response to the committee and see whether they can shed any light on the matter.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
Thank you. I will ensure that the points that you have highlighted are reflected in the correspondence.
I very much want to thank the committee for its constructive engagement and to thank officials for the work that has been undertaken to get us to a position where we have been able to take the financial update forward. This is a process, rather than an event, and we are always keen to get feedback to ensure that we are presenting information as transparently as possible. It is all part of an on-going discussion and a process of refinements. I am grateful for the committee’s input, and I will certainly ensure that the points that you have highlighted on financial memoranda are relayed to relevant officials and ministerial colleagues.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Tom Arthur
With your permission, convener—and this also applies to some of the questions that Mr Mason asked—I would be happy to respond in detail in writing when I have had the chance to have further discussions with officials and to look at the matter in some detail myself. The committee has raised an important point that warrants a more substantive response than something extemporised by me at this stage in the session.
