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
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 25 November 2021
Jenni Minto
Thank you. I want to move on to a completely different subject. Two weeks ago, Glasgow hosted COP26 and was the centre of the international world. I am interested in hearing our witnesses’ reflections on the impact of COP26 on Scottish international development.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 25 November 2021
Jenni Minto
I will explore a bit more the education side and the connections across Europe and the diaspora. Professor Pittock talked about the two-way movement of students and, when I visited the Scottish Association for Marine Science in my constituency about 10 days ago, I was very struck by the impact on its student numbers. The Law Society of Scotland submission talked about broadening the horizons of our students and there is also the research side. I would like to hear further thoughts and reflections on how the Scottish Government can work to improve those links. Perhaps we can start with Dr Marks.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 25 November 2021
Jenni Minto
Yes, sorry.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 25 November 2021
Jenni Minto
Professor Pittock, do you have anything to add? You have already expanded on your views on education, but you might have something else to say.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 25 November 2021
Jenni Minto
I was building on Professor Pittock’s ideas about relationships and the sharing of knowledge. Would the other two witnesses like to comment?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 25 November 2021
Jenni Minto
Thank you. It is positive to hear that that work is going ahead. It is very important, not only from a legislation perspective, but in order to understand the legal and human rights aspects. From my previous background as an accountant, I also know the importance of keeping policies consistent across that area.
Dr Hughes, could you comment, please?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Jenni Minto
Thank you—
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Jenni Minto
I thank the panel very much for their time. I have found their evidence to be very informative.
I suppose that this ties in with Dr Allan’s question, but I was struck by Andrew Bauer’s comments about the Danish example and the experiences of his Danish colleague, because it brought to mind a visit that I made to Sweden, where, again, the supermarkets very much put an emphasis on local produce. I also met a cattle farmer who had a particular butcher that he used, supplied the local school and, indeed, had lots of local connections.
What are the panel’s thoughts about making such links with schools and communities and on how we can keep produce local while still taking it out to a wider market? As a representative of a remote, rural and island constituency, I wonder how your ways of working can be replicated in such areas. After all, it is fair to say that one size does not necessarily fit all. I know of a farmer on Lismore who is doing a lot of regenerative work, but how do we ensure that your messages get out? People might not take such things lock, stock and barrel, but just the elements that will work in their areas.
I am not terribly sure what my question is, but I would like to get your thoughts on those comments.
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Jenni Minto
Thank you. You made an important point.
David and Michael, do you have anything to add?
Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Jenni Minto
I have a quick supplementary question. You mentioned hedgerow creation, and I was thinking back to going for walks when I was growing up and how we got around farms by walking along the side of the hedge. We have not really touched on biodiversity today, and I am interested to hear your thoughts on how we encourage hedgerows to come back.