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
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
As I said in response to Mr Kerr, decisions on new offshore oil and gas exploration are for the UK Government. We have made very clear our desire for the UK Government to have much stronger climate compatibility checks as part of that process. We await its decision in that regard.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
We are continuing to discuss that with UK ministers. The Scottish Government judges that both suggestions—a nodal pricing system and a zonal pricing system—have potential to disadvantage generators in Scotland because Scottish supply often outstrips demand in each area. We are concerned about the risks for generators. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that, if the systems are designed well, they may have corresponding benefits for consumers, including business consumers.
We continue to engage with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to understand the implications for Scotland and to do what we can to inform its decision-making process.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
You would not expect me to comment on a particular proposal coming forward, but it is fair to say that we are going to have significant need for greater infrastructure to ensure that we meet the demands of generation and transmission. Claire Jones can provide some further information.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
We will look to take any suggestion that anybody has about allocating additional funding. Obviously, we are in a particularly stretched public finance situation. The budget is currently fully allocated, but I would be more than happy to take a suggestion from either Monica Lennon or, indeed, the committee if there was a need or desire for a different intervention going forward.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
I agree with the deputy convener that that is an incredibly important piece of legislation, which we support. We are continuing to encourage the UK Government to go further along the lines that I have set out on consenting and other areas, and on the areas that the committee has suggested as well. We await further feedback on what Mr Bowie set out to this committee a couple of weeks ago. We hope that the UK Government’s ambition would go further than what it is currently stating, particularly on consenting, which is a missed opportunity.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
Yes. The lessons from previous applications and infrastructure interventions will feed into what comes down the track. I am confident that those who are proposing any future infrastructure investments—I have to speak in generalities—will be cognisant of what has gone before.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
Yes, there is.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
Yes, I agree with Mr Ruskell.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
It is important that we have a resilient network that reflects the demand that is placed on it from generation capacity that is often at the extremities and not as close to consumers, and that it does not discourage generation that happens away from consumers. It is important that any model for redesigning the grid network acknowledges that to ensure that we do not disadvantage or discourage generation here in Scotland.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Neil Gray
The deputy convener is right. The planning legislation is ours, and NPF4 is an important part of that. However, the Electricity Act 1989 also comes into play here and we do not have full control over all elements of the consenting regime for infrastructure. The interaction with the 1989 act means that there can be much slower decision-making processes. For instance, if a local planning authority refuses or objects to a consent, it has to go to a public inquiry.
NPF4 ensures that we have a very clear pathway, and we are continuing to discuss with Mr Bowie and other UK Government colleagues how transfer of powers around the 1989 act would allow us to have a much fuller package to ensure a smoother but balanced consenting regime.
