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 2616 contributions
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 11 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
I recognise that it is a hugely challenging position for you to be in, because you are, in effect, a funder of last resort for many organisations, such as Creative Stirling.
It feels as though we are potentially at a pivot point, and that a way forward would be to see much more cross-portfolio funding for culture and a recognition of the wider benefits that it can bring in relation to health and other objectives that the Government has.
However, it is very difficult to make the case for wider cross-portfolio funding without the projects being funded by somebody right now in order to prove the benefits that they can bring to wider society. I put to you the point that, unless there is funding of these organisations so that they can prove that value, it is very difficult to build the case for wider cross-governmental funding. That is a very difficult situation to get out of, but we have to show that it works before we can build the case further.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 11 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
The latest episode in Tory climate denial threatens to deepen our reliance on climate-wrecking fossil fuels exactly when we should be doubling down on cheap and clean renewables.
In Scotland, we are making great progress—there has been record investment in renewables as a result of planning reforms and there are tens of thousands of quality new green jobs. The “Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition plan—delivering a fair and secure zero carbon energy system for Scotland” reflects both the scientific evidence of climate change and that economic opportunity by clearly stating a presumption against new oil and gas fields. What impact will the new bill have on that exact commitment?
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 10 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
Despite £2 billion having been spent on ticket sales across the UK, every week last year at least one grass-roots music venue permanently closed its doors. Other countries have shown that there is a way out of that decline through ticket levies supporting the development of grass-roots music and venues. Does the cabinet secretary agree that 2024 is the year in which to turn the situation around, including by accelerating progress towards establishing a ticket levy on arena and stadium tickets to support the grass roots?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
How do we meet the 30 by 30 target on the ground to the satisfaction of your members and give them the clarity that you are asking for without being too prescriptive about what they need to invest in?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
Are you saying that you would expect to see all that detail in this delivery plan, or are there other plans, be they regional or species specific, that should come out of the delivery plan to provide that clarity? It feels as if you want to see everything—every action and target—in the plan right now, but I wonder what level of detail it would be appropriate to see in the plan at this point.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
While we are drawing lines on a map, I will briefly raise the topic of national parks. I would like to hear your reflections on the proposal for the designation of at least one new national park, and how that could contribute to the targets. In addition, I would like your reflections on how national parks are currently working. Are they delivering effectively for the biodiversity agenda? If not, what needs to change? Some brief reflections on that would be useful. Perhaps Ailsa Raeburn would like to come in on that, or we can go to other panel members.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
Does anyone else want to come in?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
Caroline, do you have any thoughts on that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
Okay. Bob—I know that you want to come in on nature networks. Do you want to come in now?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 9 January 2024
Mark Ruskell
Yes—but is the danger that nothing will happen, as a result? At the end of the day, somebody on the ground needs to look at a particular catchment in the Cairngorms, Fife or wherever, and make decisions about what they are going to invest in and what the targets are.