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 2588 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I thank the witnesses for all those answers.
I turn to the final set of questions. We have talked about the importance of reuse and consumption, but I will focus on waste systems for household recycling and the infrastructure that is needed.
I am interested in a couple of things. First, is there international evidence of what really works? We have heard a bit about that from Wales already, but I want to focus on two specific aspects. First, if households are not complying with clear rules, do you see a role for issuing fines for that?
Secondly, do you have experience of waste charging having been brought in successfully, and of how issues to do with equity are dealt with in schemes? I think that no such schemes are operating in the UK so—again—the question requires an international perspective.
I offer everyone the opportunity to comment on that.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
You can stick your hands up. Anna, do you want to go first?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Yes.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Beyond the discussion about a specific exemption, I am interested in Aileen McHarg’s perspective on how the common frameworks process can be used to provide certainty, so that, as policies are developed, there is the certainty that businesses can invest. It comes back to the context that you set out. The UK Government oversees an internal market for the whole UK, but it also acts as the Government of England, which is a part of the UK. There is a constitutional asymmetry in the way that the powers are used. How do we get a fair process, given that that is the constitutional settlement that we have? I am interested in your thoughts on how the process could be improved or codified.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I welcome the clarity with which the minister set out the pathway to 2045. I also welcome the stark contrast between our trajectory and the UK Government’s, because the Prime Minister’s decision to scrap minimum energy efficiency standards for private landlords will cost tenants in England £8 billion over the next decade in higher bills.
Will the minister confirm that private landlords in Scotland will be required to meet minimum energy efficiency standards? Will he outline what the resulting benefit will be to Scotland’s 300,000 private tenants?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 23 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
We are in a climate emergency, and some of your comments so far have focused on that. However, I want to consider the Government’s strategy, the first priority in which is delivering the transition to net zero. The focus here is primarily on our historic environment assets. Has there been enough embedding of the historic environment sector’s views in other Government strategies that push towards net zero?
I was particularly struck by AHSS’s submission, which mentions pre-1919 buildings in Scotland. Many of us, including myself, live in such buildings and recognise the challenges that they present, but also the importance of their design features. What are your thoughts on housing, retrofitting and skills development, and whether the historic environment sector could be a driver for a wider transition in housing?
On a related point, do you see tensions within climate policy more generally? I put this question to Caroline Warburton of VisitScotland. If the objective is to grow tourism in Scotland, would that come with increased use of aviation? If it would, that would take us backwards as regards climate change. There is also the historic environment sector’s role on designations. Does that create a brake on renewable energy development, such as the use of wind farms or conservation areas, or restrict the roll-out of embedded renewables such as solar panels?
There are tensions, but there are also opportunities. Could the historic environment sector be a real driver on skills and achieving progress?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 23 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
That is a good reflection. I will aim to chip away at the cement-based render on the side of my house—over a number of years.
I suppose that the question is whether you think that that is sufficiently reflected in Government strategies. We have a heat in buildings strategy coming, we talked about skills earlier, and we have a historic environment strategy, but that is very much focused on the historic environment, and we know what needs to happen. Should your sector not be embedded in other strategies?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 23 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Before I ask my question, other witnesses might want to answer Donald Cameron’s question—if we have time—because it was a good question that raised an interesting issue.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 23 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I have a very specific question about world heritage site designations. We have a range of world heritage sites in Scotland, but I am interested in the potential for further designations. Do the witnesses have any reflections on that? I know that St Andrews has been discussed in the past, but there might be other candidates.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 23 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
It is on a new topic.