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 1046 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
I will provide detail on that in writing in consultation with David Tydeman, convener. My understanding is that discussions have been on-going with the MCA on all aspects of 801 and 802 over a long period, but I will make sure that I give the full detail and clarity for you in writing.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
So they have.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
There were a number of questions there; I will try to take them in turn. On the first one, the authority that I gave to proceed related specifically to 802, not 801, because 801 is close to delivery, so there was no issue with cost there. On 802, I needed to consider any additional cost overrun, and I continue to do so, along with the wider elements that I have a responsibility to consider, such as the local economy and the island communities having the ferries as quickly as possible. I suspect that I would still have given ministerial authority, given what we know now.
11:00On the points that you make about further regulatory interactions, I know that Ferguson Marine continues to discuss those matters with Lloyds and to have an iterative sign-off process, which will continue. I hope that the process will not be impacted on by what we are discussing. On the manufacturer’s warranty, CalMac is responsible for negotiations between it and Ferguson Marine. I know that those discussions are on-going and, where required, I will ensure that I am kept abreast of them and ensure that CalMac gets the ferries as quickly as possible and in a way that meets the contracted demands.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
As I said to the convener, I will make sure that further detail is provided on those discussions. I will need to consult Mr Tydeman, who has responsibility for that interaction.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
I will need to consult Mr Tydeman on the discussions with the MCA in order to ensure that I accurately reflect what has been taking place.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
For specific information on the most recent issues with the change of application of the rules and regulations on crew escape, and whether those issues are to be dealt with under the cargo regulations or the passenger regulations, I will need to consult Mr Tydeman on when those discussions were happening.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
No.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
In the debate that we had last Thursday on opportunity in the programme for government, I was really heartened by Daniel Johnston’s offer to have a discussion around some of the energy infrastructure changes that will be required and other net zero policies that will be needed. Having discussions between parties around understanding where we stand, having a greater understanding of why we will need to take some of the decisions that we will need to take and having clear lines of communication and consultation on how we might be able to meet them together will be really important.
Where we can find common cause—that is why the Bute house agreement is so important—and where we can work together, we should do it. My door is open to that, and the doors of my colleagues in the Government are open to allow respective spokespeople and others to input. I hope that our discourse is evidence based and is taking people with us rather than seeking to divide communities, which is what I am seeing coming from elsewhere at the moment, as well as people in some quarters trying to deny that it is an issue that we have to face up to at all. We have to face up to it.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Scottish Government Priorities
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
All of us have a voice and an ability to set a very clear narrative around why that work is important and why we cannot deny the fact that climate change is not just something for the future but is happening now. The committee has done work to ensure that there is greater public understanding, and we will go away and consider what more we can do—acknowledging that grid infrastructure is a UK Government responsibility—and what we can do to provide as much information as we can and how we can help to work with industry on that.
Where there are suggestions, we will always consider them and look to do what we can to try to provide as much information as possible but also give a greater context as to why the actions that we are going to need to take, which might be uncomfortable for some people and might have to change the way that we live our lives, are necessary. If we do not take that action and we do not meet our net zero objectives, and if global warming continues to happen, there will be even greater discomfort because of the more extreme weather and the imposition that the impact of climate change will have on people’s lives and livelihoods.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Correction
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Neil Gray
Neil Gray has identified an error in his contribution and provided the following correction.
At col 9, paragraph 1—
Original text—
We know that wind—onshore and offshore—is the cheapest form of renewable energy and already provides a huge amount of capacity for the grid.
Corrected text—
We know that wind—onshore and offshore—is one of the cheapest forms of renewable energy and already provides a huge amount of capacity for the grid.
