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 1412 contributions
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
It is interesting, because we were at a Families Outside event last night that was hosted by Rona Mackay. The panel touched on the impact that it has when a person is imprisoned: the stigma and even the cost involved. Families Outside has done a fantastic report, “Paying the Price: The Cost to Families of Imprisonment and Release”. Stuart Allardyce—I am doing a bit of networking here—have you worked with Families Outside or could you link in with that?
Criminal Justice Committee
Meeting date: 31 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
That is good to know. Thank you.
My other question is on the Online Safety Bill. The bill seeks to make social media companies legally responsible for keeping children and young people safe online. Do any of you have any views on whether that will be feasible? What will that look like? Is the bill robust enough to achieve those aims? Are significant amendments required?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
I will bring in Graeme McAlister on the potential for childminders to provide a funded wraparound service alongside schools.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
Before I bring Gordon MacDonald back in, Irene Audain has indicated that she would like to comment.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
Our next agenda item is an evidence session to inform our inquiry into addressing child poverty through parental employment. The inquiry is looking into how the Scottish Government is working with local authorities, employers and other partners at a local level to tackle child poverty through improving employability. Since summer 2022, the committee has gathered information from local employability partnerships, taken part in a focus group, undertaken visits to North Ayrshire and the Western Isles, and run a call for views.
Some clear themes have emerged from the work, and we will explore those in a series of evidence sessions over the coming weeks and in September. The first theme that we will look into is the availability of affordable and flexible childcare for parents, and policies that relate to those issues.
I welcome today’s panel to the meeting. Joining us in the committee room, we have Graeme McAlister, the chief executive of the Scottish Childminding Association, and Matthew Sweeney, policy manager for children and young people at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Joining us remotely, we have Irene Audain, the chief executive officer of the Scottish Out of School Care Network; and Jonathan Broadbery, director of policy and communications at the National Day Nurseries Association.
Before we start, I have a few points to mention about the format of the meeting. Virtual witnesses and members, before you start to speak, please wait until I—or the member who is asking the question—say your name, and allow our broadcasting colleagues a few seconds to turn your microphone on. If you wish to come in on a question, you can also indicate with an R in the dialogue box in BlueJeans.
Please do not feel that you have to answer every question. If you have nothing new to add to what has been said by others, that is also okay. We have a lot to cover this morning, so I ask everyone to keep questions, answers and follow-up questions tight. Colleagues who are in the room should indicate to me or the clerk if they wish to come in or ask a supplementary question. Members who are joining us online should use the chat box or WhatsApp to do so.
I will invite members to ask questions in turn, as agreed in our pre-briefing. Our first theme is the impact of funded hours, and I call Paul O’Kane.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
I am happy for you to do that.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
Graeme McAlister would like to come in, and then I will bring in Jonathan Broadbery.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
I have a list of people who are online and would like to come in. I will start with Irene Audain and then bring in Graeme McAlister. Jonathan Broadbery has also indicated that he would like to come in.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
Would any of the witnesses like to respond to that? Are you posing that question to a particular person, Katy?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 25 May 2023
Collette Stevenson
Graeme McAlister wants to come in, but I am conscious of time. Could you please be as tight as possible with your answer, Graeme?