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.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
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.
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.
There are two types of keyword search:
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.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
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:
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.
Displaying 772 contributions
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
If you write to me directly, I will be happy to look into the circumstances of that case. As you will know, the Scottish Government has a number of funding streams to support dentistry services, including grants to set up new practices or to employ additional people. Those are dealt with at health board level, but I will be happy to look into the case if you care to write to me about it.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
I have learned while working in my portfolio that we can never be fully confident that we have eradicated a condition or disease. I have regular meetings with officials who work on various diseases and conditions. We have not spoken specifically about rickets, so I will ensure that we do that at our next meeting.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
That is a fair question. When I was visiting a school in my constituency, a teacher came out with eight brightly coloured vapes in her hand.
I absolutely agree that we are in a very difficult situation. As you have rightly pointed out, it is already illegal to sell vapes to under-18s. We have discussed that with our local authorities to ensure that they recognise that. However, as I mentioned to Ms Mackay, the tobacco action plan is coming out this year.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
I was in Elgin during the summer, which was the first place where I had come across the daily mile. People at the health centre there spoke about the importance of exercise, which is just as important as what we eat. Staff at the health centre explained how they are supporting families, and not only with the daily mile. People aged from eight months to 80 are attending the health centre to get support with fitness, whether through the daily mile or something more physical such as swimming or weight training. That is really important.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
I also visited a pharmacy, in Ellon, and saw similar pieces of improved technology to those that you saw in the one that you visited. I was really struck with the importance in the community of community pharmacies. I do not think that a minute went by without somebody in the pharmacy.
The discussion broadened out to some of the areas on which you have touched in your question. I am speaking to officials about ways in which we can work with and support community pharmacies. It goes without saying that the work that they did throughout the pandemic really helped local communities. That work is continuing and it gives people in those communities the opportunity of a much closer, and sometimes more relaxed, interaction with healthcare, which is incredibly important.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
That is a really important question that was highlighted to me yesterday when I heard from a mother whose son had been described as “fat” and “obese,” which had given him a dreadful lack of confidence.
You are absolutely right that language is incredibly important, as is how we work with local authorities, schools and other public bodies to ensure that the message is spread across our services. One example is the good food nation plan, which talks about ensuring that children have the opportunity to eat good healthy food. I saw that in operation last week at a primary school in Edinburgh, where they were talking about breakfast and healthy foods, such as Weetabix and fresh fruit. There is a whole conversation to be had around language, which is important in education centres as well as across the general public. We are very cognisant of that.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
Stage 3 of the bill is coming up in the next couple of weeks. That will provide an opportunity for us to take cognisance of what you have said and to look at how we incorporate it in the debate. I am sure that Ms Mochan will cover the issue in the contributions that she makes in that debate.
10:00Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
I had a lot of discussions on such issues with my officials over the summer. We will do a consultation in the autumn on foods that are high in fat, sugar or salt, and we are consulting on which foods to concentrate on—crisps, confectionery, cakes and other foods. We will probably also consult on promotions, including meal deals, unlimited refills and location of products in stores. We will consider all those things. Over the summer when I was shopping, at the end of my shopping I got a voucher for a cake, and I thought, “Why didn’t I have the option of a voucher for a banana?” We are thinking about things such as that.
Emma Harper commented on the fact that rather than introduce a bill, we are producing regulations. We believe that that will allow us to move swiftly and efficiently. Circumstances changed, which allowed us to bring in regulations as opposed to a bill, and we are working at pace on the timescales.
I know the two publications on ultraprocessed foods that Emma Harper mentioned. There have also been a number of articles in newspapers on the topic, and there are a number of podcasts about ultraprocessed foods. I was in a meeting last week with Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland at which I raised the issue as something on which I would like to get more information. We look at evidence from the scientific advisory committee on nutrition, but there is currently no specific evidence on ultraprocessed foods. The Scottish Government bases decisions and policies on evidence. We need to carry out further engagement and consultation on ultraprocessed foods. I have asked my officials to look at that.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
As you will know, the tobacco action plan will come out this autumn, and it absolutely will consider vapes and where they are in shops. As you have, I have heard stories about the experiences of mothers in supermarkets, where vapes are at eye level for children and have bright colours that attract them. We are very aware of that situation, and it will be covered in the tobacco action plan.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
No pressure has been put on us by other organisations not to introduce a bill, then an act, on the issue. A change in circumstances and evidence from England has allowed us to introduce measures using regulations.
When we bring in any food regulations, there must be proper and robust consultation, which is what we are doing now to ensure that we bring in the right policies, based on evidence, to improve people’s ability to buy the right food.