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 2580 contributions
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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
On your very last point, the strategic wildfire strategy that I have just talked about will do an awful lot of heavy lifting. A hell of a lot of work is going into that.
As for whether we are engaging with stakeholders, we absolutely are. I had a meeting with the Scottish Gamekeepers Association last week, when I met the young keepers. We are having extensive conversations about what is needed, what the practitioners are capable of doing, what the restrictions on them could or could not be, and how we can make the system work so that they can continue to realise the benefits of muirburn, but in a safe and practicable way. Those conversations are on-going, which is why I have delayed bringing in the licences until next year.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
Douglas Ross will shortly lay out what amendment 257 states, but my understanding is that it would take away powers from NatureScot, because he does not trust NatureScot to make an impartial and unbiased decision. Local authorities would have to consider the protected status of gulls in the same way as NatureScot would, so is he saying that local authorities should dismiss the fact of that status?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
Will the member take an intervention?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
I will be brief, convener. Rachael Hamilton talked about trust between the Scottish Government and landowners, but this is about trust between landowners, the Scottish Government, the public and everybody else, so that landowners and people who shoot the grouse have the respect that they deserve from everybody.
We should not allow a few bad eggs to bring down the entire industry. The majority of the industry will benefit from the fact that the legislation is being tightened up, and people will see a well-regulated industry that does a good job, that does fantastic stuff by bringing money and jobs into the countryside, and that they should get behind. That is the purpose of the proposal.
20:30Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
It was a ludicrous requirement, but it was something about which I, as a minister, could speak to NatureScot and ask for more sensible discussions about what the licence is. Therefore, that is what was done.
The member will also be aware that we had discussions about the issues in the Inverness area, which Mr Ross and Mr Ewing brought to me. Ministers have the ability to speak to NatureScot to say, “This isn’t working. Can you please change it?” That is what happened in that case, and those things were done. Does the member accept that that process is happening already?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
The annual survey—sorry, I cannot go through all that again. I would need to read the whole thing out to get the clarity that I need in my own head to deliver that information to the committee.
We are not talking about doing an annual survey. We cannot do an annual survey, because wintering birds and different species are involved. We do not have the time or the resource to do an annual survey, because that would take time away from NatureScot carrying out its other functions and purposes. There is no need for an annual survey—and it is very difficult to do one—but we are working out how we can get the population data. As we get the methodology worked out, we will make sure that we have numbers that are as accurate as they can possibly be.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
I did not say that we are not doing a survey. You asked for an annual survey, so we need to work out—
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
Okay. As I set out in the strategic action plan, there is an awful lot of work going on. I am absolutely committed to making sure that NatureScot carries out its functions, as it is required to do by the Scottish Government. We expect that it will do so in a way that protects the gulls in relation to which it issues licences and, at the same time, takes account of the issues that people are raising with it. I hope that I have already demonstrated to Mr Ross that I am prepared to intervene when that is absolutely necessary. However, I do not support the amendments and I ask the committee not to support them.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
It is because nuisance and health and safety are two entirely different things.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 10 December 2025
Jim Fairlie
I also set out in the chamber that the mass reduction and removal of eggs, nests and chicks is not the appropriate way to go. We have to take a much more holistic approach to how we manage and live with gulls as we go forward. That is the position that I will take.
We will absolutely take seriously all the issues that people have raised. I take all the points that Rachael Hamilton, Tim Eagle and Douglas Ross have raised about people’s concerns. I do not diminish them in any way, shape or form, but our actions should not be taken at the expense of the status of some of the gulls, whose numbers have crashed.
I also accept that we do not have the data, which is why a gull survey is currently being advanced. A task force is scrutinising the evidence to consider how we should take the matter forward.
I want to get the committee to understand that we are not taking the matter lightly by any stretch of the imagination. However, actions should not be taken at the expense of a bird population that is in massive decline in some areas. The decline is also across species. When we talk about individual gulls, what are we talking about—is it herring gulls or others?
I will not support the amendments today—
