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 2643 contributions
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 30 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
We have an incredibly challenging fiscal deal—which does not keep pace with inflation—coming from the Westminster Government. Will Audrey Nicoll reflect on the fact that restoration projects are now even more challenging because of Brexit and the loss of critical funding support—including life funding—from the European Union? The Scottish Government has had to step up in order to make those things happen.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Is it fair to say that that approach has brought some focus and ambition rather than requiring specific changes in the waste management area?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Does that mean taking a sector-based approach? We could be reusing more construction materials, for instance. It has also been put to us in evidence that we could ensure that there is a requirement to take back unused materials in the construction sector—not just unused household goods—rather than disposing of them. Does the jigsaw puzzle look like a sectoral picture, with a whole set of actions that are devolved and wrapped up in EPR that should be driven through a particular sector?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Yes—Anna, you were part of the way to getting on to EPR earlier.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I presume that there might be different cultural starting points for adopting such an approach. If you have any reflections on that, it would be good to hear them.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
That is useful to know.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I think that we have already covered aspects relating to Wales, but I would be interested to hear Emma Hallett’s reflections on whether consideration is being given to waste charging and, as a last resort, to household fines.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I am struck by the comments that Feja and Toni were making in relation to the construction sector and, in particular, the amount of waste. I had not realised that it was such a significant part of our waste production. Are there other sectors that the strategy should zero in on, beyond household waste treatment—for example, industrial sectors?
I am also interested in any thoughts that you have on EPR. We discussed with the previous panel the UK Government’s aspirations to put in place EPR for a number of sectors. In terms of meshing this together, what should be the priorities and what are the tools?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
I have a question for Emma Hallett about the Welsh context. Wales has devolved powers that are similar to those that are available in Scotland, but it also has the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, which seem to embed sustainable management, if not circular principles, in your thinking. How significant has the Welsh legislative framework been in driving things forward? Are there lessons that we can draw from that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 28 November 2023
Mark Ruskell
Thank you.