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 778 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
I have not had a meeting with Amazon.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
The most relevant provision in the bill in that regard relates not so much to the strategy, which absolutely could encompass those things, but to practical implementation. So much of the practical implementation will be done by our local authorities, so it is most likely that it will take effect and take shape under the provision for development of the code of practice.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
I am, indeed, open minded about how we can improve any aspect of the bill—certainly, in terms of ensuring that the strategy has the effect that we want it to have. Of course, our commitment to human rights globally is strong, as you know. I look forward to discussing those potential amendments with you further.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
I will give you my thoughts, then invite officials to come in. There are two points to make on that. In relation to the bill, there is an opportunity in respect of national and local authority targets, if local authorities want to address that as part of the co-design process. That could be looked at, but what would procurement with such targets look like? We would have to work out the exact details to make sure that it was feasible.
10:15The other element, which I have discussed with Zero Waste Scotland, is entirely separate from the bill, but is part of the larger picture. We are moving into a space where we need to understand and be able to measure the circularity of a company. For example, in the fair work space, we know that companies are accredited as fair work companies and as living wage companies. Under such a procurement procedure, you would be able to say whether a company meets the requirement.
However, we do not have a circularity accreditation. One does not exist here yet and, as far as I am aware, none exists globally. All countries are working on that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
It would be interesting to look at the idea. I have discussed the matter with Zero Waste Scotland. Around the world, various metrics are being developed and, as I said, I have asked Zero Waste Scotland to take that on board. Such a metric would be brilliant. My long-term vision is to have a circularity metric, so that we could say that companies must have a certain amount of circularity, just as we can say that they must be fair work employers, but I do not know what that would look like yet.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
No—I do not think that stakeholders need to be nervous. Since he gave evidence to the committee, I have had a meeting with Ewan MacDonald-Russell of the Scottish Retail Consortium to clarify exactly that point. He was concerned that the definition might include food and other perishable goods, so I wanted to reassure him that that is not the case. The description of “consumer goods” is intended to be used in relation to durable goods, not perishable goods. I have agreed to write to Mr MacDonald-Russell to clarify that point.
The intention is to cover goods that are currently being disposed of that have a significant impact. The model that we are examining is the one that applies in France, where rules have been imposed for electronics, textiles, hygiene products and cosmetics. That is the model that we will consider, although we will do a full consultation before we implement it.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
The bill is absolutely not intended to target small and medium-sized businesses. It is—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
I can only imagine how frustrating it is to have a waste crime committed on your land, convener.
I will answer, but I will also hand over to Ailsa Heine, because there are some legal points to make in connection with this particular question.
Section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 does not place an immediate legal liability on the occupier of land, but it does provide a means of serving a notice to compel the occupier to remove waste from the land in some circumstances, which must be what has occurred in the situations to which Murdo Fraser referred. Although that power could be used in any circumstances, it is likely to be used by SEPA or by local authorities only when there is substantial evidence that the landowner bears some responsibility for the deposited waste. SEPA and local authorities also have powers to remove waste from land, so they can do it themselves.
Although we recognise that private landowners are often the victims of fly-tipping and we recognise the need for further action to support those victims, the proposal contained in Murdo Fraser’s proposed member’s bill would significantly affect SEPA’s ability to tackle serious waste crime, and removal of the provision in section 59(1) of the 1990 act would allow occupiers of land who bear some responsibility for fly-tipping waste to escape liability for unlawful behaviour, which would leave the public purse to bear the removal and clean-up costs.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
The specific requirement is that SEPA and local authorities must have substantial evidence that the landowner bears some responsibility for the deposited waste. The question is not so much around the legislation; it is perhaps around how it is being implemented. I cannot comment on any particular individual circumstances, but I absolutely recognise the point that victims of waste crimes have a grievance, and I am interested to hear about what other measures we could take to support them in that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 5 December 2023
Lorna Slater
That is my understanding—that the fines would stay at £200.