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.
Displaying 2616 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
Okay, and do you feel that there are other approaches—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
To avoid my submitting an FOI request, it would be useful if you could summarise what that engagement has looked like and whether it has covered any of the issues that we have talked about this morning, including the matter of call-in procedures, which the deputy convener raised. We are trying to understand where the advice sits and how Government responds, both to ESS and to any views that you might have.
I understand that, over the past 30 years, ammonia emissions have barely dropped. In fact, there is some evidence that suggests that they have increased. As we know, ammonia causes public health issues and environmental problems. Do you see that situation as a failure of regulation?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
So it is not covered by permit, by registration, by notification and by general binding rules. Is that correct?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
Do you think that there is a link back into land management plans and spelling out what the benefits will be, what the restoration and regeneration look like and whether they are monitorable?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
I will move on. I am interested in your views on the diversification proposals. Are they clear enough? Will they make it easier for tenants to make environmental improvements and supplement their incomes through diversification?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
A couple of years ago, your previous chief executive talked quite openly about SEPA focusing its activities on the big sectors that were not meeting environmental compliance—at the time, salmon farming was a focus, as was the Mossmorran plant—and that is where a lot of SEPA’s resources were going. He also talked about streamlining the regulatory process for sectors that were broadly compliant and in which a lack of compliance was a rarity.
The previous chief executive has been gone for some time, but is that the current direction of SEPA—simplifying regulation at one end and focusing on key sectors that are still problematic at the other end—or are we looking at a slightly different approach now? I am trying to see where you sit now, several years on, in relation to how you focus resources on the current environmental challenges in Scotland.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
Is that transparent for members of the public who want to get a grasp on which sectors or sites are problematic? We have talked about point-source pollution, for example. How will that interface with all those issues?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
Do the witnesses back the provisions on compensation for improvements and the shift from fixed lists to illustrative lists? I understand that the illustrative lists now include improvements that
“are presumed to facilitate or enhance sustainable and regenerative agricultural production.”
Are the illustrative lists clear enough? Would they be workable? Tom Oates is nodding.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
Therefore, what conversation has there been between you and ESS on the regulations?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Mark Ruskell
Are there any other views?