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
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 24 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
I am sure that you will have caught some of the evidence that we heard earlier. We heard particularly moving evidence on the plight of Ukrainian seasonal workers in Scotland. We heard specific examples of people being trapped in employment contracts and not being able to bring their families here. Even if they were able to do so, they would be tied to forms of accommodation that would be completely unsuitable. I take it that you acknowledge that. What can be changed? What pressure can you put on the UK Government? For example, do you support seasonal workers being able to move instantly from their temporary visas to the Ukraine family scheme? Alongside that, could other forms of support for those workers and their families be provided?
10:45Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 24 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
That is very welcome. Has there also been a conversation with the farming sector?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 24 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
Finally, I want to ask about free public transport. Mr Sweeney has been vocal on that issue and I am sure that he will have questions on it, too. However, I have a specific question on the introduction of free public transport for those who are seeking asylum and those with refugee status. It is important that that free transport is not restricted to Ukrainian people but is available to people from around the world. A confirmation that you are considering eligibility for free travel would be useful.
I hope that this is unjustified, but there is also a concern that the Home Office might attempt to claw back money from people who get such universal free benefits. Can you confirm whether that concern is justified? I hope that it is not.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
How responsive is the plan to changing Government policy or changing circumstances? We now have, for example, a massively ambitious heat in buildings strategy, although inevitably there are questions around its delivery. Does that not provide quite a new context in which the plan should be reconsidered?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
I will move on to permitted development rights. Do you have views about how, or whether, permitted development rights should be extended in certain areas? If you think that they should be extended, how would that relate to policies to protect the historic environment?
I get a lot of constituents contacting me who live in conservation areas and who are struggling with decisions around whether their double glazing should be 3mm or 6mm thick and on issues about astragals and windows, and all the rest of it. They feel that getting planning approval to upgrade their homes in historic areas can be a bit of a minefield. Do you have thoughts about particular categories of permitted development? Where should we draw the line in protecting the historic environment? Those are two big issues. I will start with Robbie Calvert. What are your general thoughts on that?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
Jane, do you want to add anything?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
Good morning to you all. First of all, I want to ask Chris Brodie about the “Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan 2020-2025”. Obviously, the plan has a longer-term outlook—over the next 25 years, I think—but it specifically relates to the period from 2020 to 2025. Now that we are coming up to its midpoint, can you tell us how the plan will be evaluated? How will you know whether it has been successful in delivering its climate objectives?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
I am sure that, as a former planner, you caught some of the previous evidence session this morning. When I looked through the action plan, I found only one reference to planning and planning jobs, which was in a list of potential areas for skills development. There did not seem to be a particular focus on planning and planners. Do you recognise that that needs to change, particularly given the amount of infrastructure we will need to build, the amount of place making that we will need to do and the other changes that are going to be needed in communities?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
Thank you. My final question is for Jamie Brogan. You are working on developing partnerships with local authorities to tackle climate change and I imagine that there will be some big areas there around heating and energy, alongside transport.
Who do you see as being the biggest partners for local authorities to engage with? Where is that big workforce for delivery going to come from? Thinking about energy, are the utility companies going to come in and do street-to-street retrofitting, investing in district heating schemes, installing household insulation and whatever? Where is the big workforce? When I look at housing departments in local councils, I do not see a vast workforce to be deployed to retrofit and change entire communities. Where is the partnership? Where is the bulk of that workforce in, say, an area such as energy that can engage in partnership working with councils to make the shift to net zero?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 22 March 2022
Mark Ruskell
I have a number of quite specific issues to ask about. The first is on full cost recovery for development management functions. Given the funding difficulties that planning departments have at the moment, where do you see full cost recovery sitting, and how do you think that that can be delivered equitably between minor and major applications? I will start with Pam Ewen.