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
The subject is certainly a priority: it sits in my portfolio and is a priority within public health. I look at the matter from an education perspective. The joy is clear on the faces of some children, who might never have tried various fruits. That is why it is important that we work with education services to ensure that families understand the importance of food. Food should be a pleasure, and not just something that people have when they are watching television. That is where I am coming from. There is a huge challenge in changing the health and food environment across Scotland.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
Thank you, cabinet secretary, and thanks to James Dornan for his question.
In the summer, I spent some time with a group providing peer support to people living with long Covid. I and my officials found that incredibly helpful, and we listened to the concerns that were being raised. What the cabinet secretary talked about and the fact that we have allowed health boards to ensure that they provide the services that are most important for the people who live in their vicinity was passed on to the group but it was helpful for me to hear what they said.
In the next couple of weeks, I have two meetings. One is with Long Covid Scotland, and the other is with children and families who have been affected by long Covid. That is important for informing the work as we go forward.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
Absolutely. As they say, a healthy start to the day—breakfast—is so important. The free school meals are also helping to support families who might not be able to afford the foods that we would like them to be able to eat. That is part of a whole Scottish Government policy to transform the food environment. As you will know, we recognise the need to bring people out of poverty in order to improve the general health of the population.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
We are seeing a hugely worrying situation and we are doing a number of strands of work in the area. Just last week, at a round-table event that was co-hosted by Lorna Slater, there was a discussion, from an environmental perspective, on the impact of single-use vapes. I also have a meeting this Saturday with young children. At the round-table meeting, there was real strength of feeling that we need to consult younger people more about the best thing to do.
10:15We are building on regulations that are already in place and we are reviewing promotion and sale of vapes to under-18s to ensure that we have the right processes in place. We consulted in, I think, 2022 on restrictions on advertising and promotions, and we are looking at that as well. Much work is on-going, and I am working closely with my officials to ensure that we make the proportionate and right response to the current situation with regard to vapes.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
I would be really interested to get the read-out from the meeting that you chaired yesterday. There was quite a bit in that question. Ideally, the approach would be through prescriptions, but there are currently no such products that are approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. However, we are looking into the matter and I am working with my officials in pharmacy and suchlike.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
We were clear that payment reform was the first step on the journey towards looking at dentistry services. We will collaborate with the BDA and more widely with other dentists on further work on governance and workforce.
I have asked for, and we are arranging, a meeting on dentistry with representatives from the other four UK nations. The issue affects not only Scotland; there are problems with dentistry services across the whole of the UK, partly as the result of a reduction in the number of new dentists coming in. That has happened for two reasons. About 160 student dentists lost a whole year of study because of the pandemic, and then Brexit left us asking how we could encourage dentists from across the world to come to the UK, and to Scotland in particular. A lot of work is being done on that.
I am pleased to say that 183 or 184 students are studying dentistry this year and that will help to move things forward. A lot of work has been done with the directors of dentistry in each of the health board areas to find ways to support dentists who are coming in, specifically in rural health board areas where work similar to that designed to attract GPs is being done. All that work is incredibly positive. My officials and I are engaging with dentists to make progress on it.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 12 September 2023
Jenni Minto
That is a good suggestion, Ms Harper, and I will take it away.
09:30Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Jenni Minto
I lodged amendment 2 in response to the committee’s recommendation to remove section 4 of the bill as drafted on the basis that it is already provided for in the Equality Act 2010.
I move amendment 2.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Jenni Minto
I do not support amendment 22, which would allow the commissioner to make a special report on any recommendations from a previous report that they felt had not been, or would not be, implemented. The bill expressly gives the commissioner power to publish information on the implementation, or not, of their recommendations. The amendment is therefore superfluous.
I am also concerned that requiring the commissioner to lay before Parliament a report about actions that they felt would not be implemented could leave them open to defamation actions, as it anticipates or speculates about wrongdoing by others.
I urge members not to vote for amendment 22.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Jenni Minto
I do not support amendment 11. The commissioner will need sufficient time in post to understand the patient safety landscape, gather sufficient information, carry out any investigations that they feel are necessary and see their recommendations lead to change. Eight years is the standard period of office for all Scottish parliamentary commissioners. A commitment has been made to the Presiding Officer that the patient safety commissioner will be as consistent as possible with existing procedures to reduce the burden on the Scottish Parliament. I therefore ask Sandesh Gulhane not to press amendment 11.