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
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 February 2022
Jenni Minto
You will have read the evidence that we have received on people wanting to be involved and to participate in this and on the issue of oversight, which you have already touched on. Is there an opportunity to look at that, rethink the use of the negative procedure in that respect and use the affirmative procedure instead?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 February 2022
Jenni Minto
We took evidence on whether a citizens assembly would be a way forward. I am sure that the cabinet secretary and her officials have read Dr Rivington’s advice to us about the importance of participation and the requirement for mechanisms in relation to achieving best practice. It sounds as though the approach was incorporated into the sessions that you set up.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 23 February 2022
Jenni Minto
Thank you.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
In planning on aquaculture, how will the views of all stakeholders in communities on the development of aquaculture be considered?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
Jayne Jones spoke about being on a journey. We have heard evidence that there is a changing culture, as well. What changes in culture have you seen in your local authorities as a result of the decisions that you have made about food? What learnings have you got from the pandemic? How are Scottish Government policies, such the 1,140 hours of free childcare and free school meals, impacting on children in your local authority areas and how you shape your policies?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
As Mike Callaghan has just said, collaboration is key. I would also reflect that one size does not fit all. Our local authorities all have responsibilities over different types of area. For example, last week we heard from Jill Muirie of Glasgow and she talked about the fact that more than 90 per cent of food that is bought in Glasgow is being transported there; it is not grown there. She mentioned partnering with other areas and other local authorities. I am interested to know from you, as two of the leading authorities in the collaboration around improving food and localness in your areas, what collaboration you have done with other local authorities.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
I want to follow on from that question. I have had correspondence from constituents about the consideration of biodiversity benefits in decision making. People have asked why there is an exemption for fish and shellfish farming.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
I have a quick question. What would be the implication, from the point of view of delays, if we did not approve the regulations today, given that we are giving the Scottish Government an opportunity to set up a framework to support loans and grants to fishermen?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
Therefore, the regulations provide an opportunity for fishing communities to apply for a wider range of grants and loans to support their businesses and their sustainability.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 9 February 2022
Jenni Minto
I want to expand a bit more on that. As Rachael Hamilton pointed out, Bute is with the central belt action area, as is Dunoon. To be parochial about it, my constituency is divided among different action areas. There are islands that I would have expected to have been with other island communities in, for example, the islands hub for net zero project. I am pleased to hear that the map could be redrawn. I asked you about that, Ms Simpson, when you first came to the committee, so it is good to hear that there is a bit of flexibility in the action areas.