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 1351 contributions
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Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
As I said, we will have a public awareness campaign in June, and we are working with Police Scotland and all local authorities on that. The regulations are being introduced today so that people are aware of them as we progress through the implementation of the 2022 act.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
The football clubs are supportive of that. I hope that, when we have our public campaign, they will support that as well, to deter fans from using pyrotechnics at football games.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
I will answer the second part of your question first, if I may, then bring in officials for the first part.
The legislation is coming in June, so if it goes out to consultation there will be a tight timescale. The local authorities are working with our officials. I am not sure of the exact councils, but I think that Glasgow and Lothian will have zones in place for bonfire night this November. I am unsure of any other local authority, but those are the ones that have engaged with us and really want to use the legislation. Being an ex-councillor, and knowing what a topical issue this is locally, I think that there will be further take-up from local authorities.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
I have not discussed what happened on Sunday with Police Scotland. I saw what was happening, and I think that you are 100 per cent correct that it was totally orchestrated. As I have mentioned, the issue seems to be escalating and it is dangerous. I believe that this SSI, which will enable to the police to search the general public before they enter the ground and to remove pyrotechnics from them, is different from waiting for someone to explode the device and then trying to arrest them safely in a large crowd.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
They do, but there will also be a public awareness campaign. At the moment, I think that people think that they can get away with it, but they cannot. Bringing in the legislation and having a public awareness campaign will reiterate that to fans, especially if we have the football clubs on our side as well.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
I appreciate that but, as a new minister, I am very keen on public awareness as we move forward. We know that implementation will happen over a period. It may be better for small bits of information to go out to the general public, because much of this will happen in five years’ time. I will be working with my officials to ensure that there is public awareness of the pyrotechnics legislation and, as we move towards bonfire night, I will be working with local authorities on what is expected, to ensure that the public are fully aware.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
There is no reasonable excuse for using a pyrotechnic, but there could be a reasonable excuse for being in possession of one. For example, if a security guard in a football stadium confiscates one and is en route to putting it in a safe place, he has a reasonable excuse for having it in his possession.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
I do not accept that. We are in a very different place financially, which is why we have had to implement the act with a staggered approach. I am happy, in a public awareness campaign, to note that we are doing that because of the financial implications of our budget.
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
Thank you, convener—you raise a very valid point. I will come on to how we got to the capacity of 1,000 in the first place, and then I might bring in my officials to comment further on that.
The 1,000 capacity threshold was designed to provide certainty for the organisers and attendees and for the police who are enforcing the law around the offences. The designation refers to the capacity of the venue where the event takes place. I accept that, when deciding on a figure in that way, it is always challenging to set a fixed number as a limit. The 1,000 capacity was reached in order to ensure proportionality and that additional restrictions apply where they could be most necessary and effective, and in keeping with the scope of the 2022 act.
Larger-sized events are included because the available evidence suggests that pyrotechnic misuse is more likely at larger events. The risk of potential harm from pyrotechnic misuse in crowded places and larger groups also includes the risk of crowd panic and surge. That does not mean that it is acceptable or safe to take pyrotechnics into smaller venues. The broader public place possession offence will provide a significant level of protection at all music events, regardless of whether they have been designated, because it prohibits the possession of most pyrotechnics, including fireworks, “without reasonable excuse”. Engagement with relevant stakeholders has shown that such events already restrict any attempts to bring in or use prohibited items, including pyrotechnic articles. As you know, at music events, bags are already searched for alcohol, so designation will not place any additional burden on the people who organise and manage such events.
Because those provisions will come into force on 6 June, I am very keen that we have a public awareness campaign, so that everybody knows that the 2022 act will be implemented and that it will be an offence to bring pyrotechnics into larger and smaller events.
Do my officials want to comment further?
Criminal Justice Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 May 2023
Siobhian Brown
On firework control zones, the 2022 act sets out the requirements on local authorities as part of the process of considering and designating firework control zones. They include a requirement to consult widely on any proposals to designate new zones, as well as a requirement to publish any decisions as a result of consultation 60 days before a new control zone comes into effect.
I appreciate that there might be a shortage of time. My officials are working with two local authorities at the moment to ensure that they can have measures in place this year. Time has been required for a meaningful co-design process to be progressed with local authorities, communities and wider stakeholders to develop effective guidance for local authorities on the consideration and designation of firework control zones.
It has therefore not been feasible to commence the powers earlier than was planned for the commencement regulations to be laid in June. It is possible for local authorities to undertake the process once the powers come into effect, ahead of the summer recess, although the timescales will be challenging, as I have said. We are therefore working closely with a small number of local authorities that we know have a strong desire to use the power promptly to designate the zone ahead of bonfire night this year.
Consultation and engagement with local authorities has informed the approach that we have taken, and, to continue to build on that, the Scottish Government, in partnership with the Scottish Community Safety Network, will undertake a programme of engagement with local authorities following commencement of firework control provisions to further raise awareness of the powers and how they could be used to tackle fireworks issues moving forward
On the licensing scheme that you mentioned, you are correct—we do not have detail on that, because, as you know, it has been delayed, but I can let you know that the act sets out the core elements of how the licensing scheme will function and the requirements that will be put in place. Subsequent secondary legislation will be utilised to set out the operational and administrative details of the system. My officials are developing proposals with the consultation as part of the overall programme to implement the licensing scheme, and I am happy to keep the committee updated on all progress as that work continues.
