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
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
I will move beyond that to look at wider industrial decarbonisation that may or may not feed into the Acorn project. What progress could the Scottish Government make by working with industry between now and 2030? Which options are most deliverable within that timescale?
Yesterday, I released a report that I commissioned on decarbonisation options for Mossmorran. I think that it is the first report on what a site-specific transition might look like for that plant. What are your thoughts on wider industrial decarbonisation, and what big step changes can we make?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
What do you think about the French Government’s approach to banning certain domestic flights within 2.5 hours’ travel where there is a rail alternative? That came out of the French citizens assembly and the Government has now taken it on and is delivering. It is a different context, however.
11:15Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
It is just a brief question on the back of Liam Kerr’s point about diet change. Practically, what should Governments be delivering in that regard? Is it about changing the way in which public canteens and kitchens offer choice? Is it about food labelling? What are the tools? Is it all about market demand, given your comment that people are generally moving towards eating less meat anyway?
11:30Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
Good morning; it is good to see you all again. I want to ask about how Governments make decisions that are in line with net zero and targets and lead to the delivery programmes that are needed on the ground. You will be aware of the work of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government and the Fraser of Allander Institute in producing a report on budget reforms. The report focuses on the practice of how Government makes decisions as well as on a critical net zero test. The three steps that were agreed within that are the introduction of a climate narrative into this year’s budget, a revision to the taxonomy in next year’s budget and the full implementation of a net zero test across Government the year after that.
I want to get your views on that. Is that the right approach, or is something missing? What is your analysis of how Government intends to make decisions going forward?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
My question is about whether local heat and energy efficiency strategies are the right approach. I heard Keith Bell’s response about conversion, retrofitting and the numbers that we can get through the current system. Could LHEES provide a step change with, maybe, a move towards more area-based schemes that involve whole communities or streets being retrofitted and invested in? Will that approach provide the right incentive for private sector investment?
It feels as if we are struggling to find the step change here. Some work is happening with LHEES, but does it fill you with hope, or is there still some way to go?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
That is the local level. Why is the CCC so resistant to boiler scrappage schemes and scrappage schemes in general? The report really challenges Government, but I wonder why some policy options seem to be off the table. Emily Nurse said earlier that there was some scepticism about scrappage.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
Thank you both for those comments.
I will move on to aviation. The Scottish Government has limited powers over aviation, but it does, or will, have some powers over passenger duty and it has powers over planning. How should the Government be tackling aviation right now, particularly in the light of a forthcoming aviation strategy?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 20 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
Are there any other reflections on the exact actions that the Scottish Government has agreed in relation to budget? What would you expect to see in the years ahead, for example? Other witnesses might want to come in on that.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 15 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
Peak-time fares on trains are a huge drain on household budgets. Extortionate prices prevent many from choosing rail over the private car, which damages our climate and drives down passenger numbers at a time when they need to build back up. How will the budget deliver fair fares for people while boosting the climate and our newly nationalised ScotRail?
Meeting of the Commission
Meeting date: 14 December 2022
Mark Ruskell
If I were working for your organisation and I saw a private sector body that was paying more, what would encourage me to continue to work for you?