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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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
Let me just finish my point, please.
I ask the committee to support amendment 61, to allow falconers to take red grouse without requiring a licence, and I ask the committee to vote against amendment 124.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
It is important to remember the purpose of having a muirburn season, which is to ensure that muirburn is carried out only when the risk of damage to economic, social and environmental interests is at a minimum. There are different permitted reasons for carrying out muirburn, depending on whether it is on peatland and whether it is carried out during the prescribed season.
Rachael Hamilton’s amendments 183 and 184 would extend the period for which a muirburn licence can be granted until 30 April. They would also allow licences to be granted for additional purposes between 1 and 30 April. As we have heard from Kate Forbes, we have very good reason to bring forward the start of the close season to protect ground-nesting birds. Therefore, to accept an amendment that would push that season back to the end of April, albeit in limited circumstances, would not be appropriate or good practice. I do not believe that we have been provided with any evidence to support the changes to the dates or the purposes for which muirburn can be undertaken that are proposed by Rachael Hamilton in her amendments.
However, I understand that the science around muirburn is constantly evolving, and that the impacts of climate change mean that we may need to adapt our approach in the future. That is why section 16(3) of the bill gives the Scottish ministers a power to amend the muirburn season if they think it
“necessary or expedient to do so”
for the purpose of
“conserving, restoring, enhancing or managing the natural environment”,
preventing the risk of wildfires or in relation to climate change.
Because the power is subject to the affirmative procedure, Parliament will have an enhanced scrutiny role, and there is a requirement to consult those who are likely to be interested in or affected by the making of muirburn, which will ensure that the power is used proportionately. For those reasons, I will not support amendments 183 and 184, and I encourage committee members to vote against them.
19:15I turn to Edward Mountain’s amendments. Amendment 39 would also allow the muirburn season to
“be extended to 30 April”,
in this case
“with the permission of the landowner.”
That would seem to delegate the authority to the landowner rather than to ministers or to NatureScot, which I find rather strange. For the same reasons that I gave in relation to Rachael Hamilton’s amendments on extending the muirburn season, I cannot support amendment 39, and I encourage the committee to vote against it—[Interruption.] I ask members to allow me to finish these points.
Amendments 25 and 26 seek to change the muirburn licence provisions so that a licence can be granted for muirburn outside
“the muirburn season only for the purposes of ... conserving, restoring, enhancing or managing the natural environment ... research, or ... public safety.”
However, I think that those amendments have been lodged as the result of a misunderstanding of the bill. Section 11(2) sets out the only purposes for which muirburn can be licensed during the open season, so an out-of-season licence would be available for any purposes that are not explicitly mentioned in section 11(2).
The bill already allows a licence for out-of-season muirburn to be granted on non-peatland for the purposes of
“conserving, restoring, enhancing or managing the natural environment ... preventing, or reducing the risk of, wildfires causing harm to people or damage to property”
or “research”.
Mr Mountain’s amendments therefore duplicate provisions for research and conserving, restoring, managing or enhancing the natural environment on non-peatland for out-of-season muirburn. Examples of that might be to create a suitable seedbed at the appropriate time of year for the natural regeneration of nearby native woodland or to research the effects of muirburn on dry heath in early September.
With regard to public safety, that was previously included in the Hill Farming Act 1946 as a reason for which an out-of-season muirburn licence could be granted. However, in creating the new muirburn provisions for the bill, we took the view that “public safety” is a very wide term that could be interpreted in many different ways, so the narrower provision for
“preventing, or reducing ... wildfires causing harm to people or damage to property”
was introduced.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
No.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
Thank you.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
The code of practice is about ensuring good-quality grouse moor management and medicated grit will be part of that code of practice.
It is helpful to have that intention made clear in the bill, so I am happy to support amendment 83 and encourage committee members to vote for it.
I thank Colin Smyth for amendments 138 and 139. I understand the intentions behind them. However, I will not support them.
As the previous minister set out in her letter to the committee on 18 January, NatureScot is taking an iterative, collaborative approach to developing the code of practice for grouse moor management. A code working group that comprises a range of stakeholders has already been established to develop the structure and content of that code. The code will include guidance on wildlife management that will set out statutory requirements with which people who are undertaking wildlife management must comply, as well as providing advice about best practice.
It is important that the finer details of what is included in the code are informed by the wide range of experience and voices that the grouse moor management code group offers so that we can get a workable but robust code. We need to give the code working group space to determine what will be promoted as best practice and we should not be too prescriptive about what we set out in the bill. Therefore, I will not support amendments 138 and 139, and I encourage members to vote against them.
Amendment 20 from Edward Mountain is unnecessary, as the bill as drafted requires the Scottish ministers to consult on the code of practice for grouse moor management. Should the Scottish ministers exercise their powers to delegate the preparation of the grouse moor management code of practice to NatureScot, NatureScot would then be required to adhere to any consultation requirements set out in section 7 of the bill. I hope that that reassures Edward Mountain and that he will not move his amendment. If he does, I encourage members to vote against it.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
Could you clarify your point, please?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
I agree with that summing up.
Amendment 61 agreed to.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement
Meeting date: 8 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
Thank you.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement
Meeting date: 8 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
This might be a really stupid question—I am new to this subject today—but what have been the implications of missing the deadline relating to the electricity trading arrangements?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement
Meeting date: 8 February 2024
Jim Fairlie
Alastair Sim outlined some of the barriers for European citizens to come here. Is there the same level or a higher bar of participation for UK folk to go to Europe, if it is the other way about?
