Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
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.
Searching by different views
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
- Report: this is the whole Official Report for a particular meeting of a committee or Parliament
- Item of business: this is each individual agenda item in an Official Report. For example, Portfolio Questions would be the item of business in a Meeting of the Parliament report
- Contribution: this is each time someone has made a spoken contribution to a meeting.
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.
Search by MSP
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.
Searching by keyword
There are two types of keyword search:
- A keyword search without quotation marks will look for every instance of each word used and rank the results by frequency and proximity. It will also include variants of the keywords using “porter stemming”. This is when the search looks for the “stem” of a word regardless of its ending. So, for example, a search for [salmon farm] will return each instance of “salmon” and each instance of “farm” as well as potentially including results for “farms”, “farmed” and “farming”.
- A keyword search with quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase used. So, for example, a search for “salmon farm” in quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase.
Combining search filters
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.
More complex keyword searches
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
- a search for “salmon farm” AND “Loch Lomond” will return only results which include both exact phrases
- a search for “salmon farm” NOT “Loch Lomond” will return results for “salmon farm” but exclude results which also include “Loch Lomond”
- a search for “salmon farm” OR “Loch Lomond” will return all results for “salmon farm” and all results for “Loch Lomond” regardless of whether they appear together
Searching by date
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:
- Current session (all Official Reports since the current sessions started)
- Last 6 months
- Last 12 months
- each of the previous sessions of Parliament. (Selecting the information icon above the “Select a time period” menu will give you the exact dates for each session.)
- All sessions
- You can also choose to select a custom date range, although adding a Start or End date will mean the search automatically defaults to this option.
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.
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Displaying 3461 contributions
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Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
The petition will stay open, and we will seek to gather evidence for consideration at a later date.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
Are we therefore content for some recommendations to be evolved on where we might visit and to plan to undertake that visit early in the new year?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
The clerks will take that forward for us. On that basis, we will keep the petition open.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
We can. We might also want to write to Victim Support Scotland to ask for its views.
I apologise for my earlier mistake—the petitioner is Alex O’Kane. The clerks can liaise with Mr Sweeney in relation to the individual affected who would like to give evidence to the committee.
At this stage, are we prepared to keep the petition open and to explore how we take forward the suggestions that have been made?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
I thank you all, gentlemen. The committee very much appreciates the evidence that you have given, and it has certainly justified our decision to have this round-table discussion this morning. There are a number of issues that we will wish to pursue, and we look forward to your further assistance in that respect.
I suspend the meeting for a few moments.
10:51 Meeting suspended.10:52 On resuming—
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
PE1948, which was also lodged by Alex O’Kane, is on improving the way in which unexplained deaths are dealt with. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to encourage Police Scotland to review its practices for dealing with unexplained deaths, from initial recovery through to the support that is offered to family members.
Alex O’Kane stresses that, when a body is discovered with no clear cause of death, there is a vital window of time when decisions are made and evidence can be secured or lost. He says that, because an unexplained death is not considered to be a crime, the same level of resources are not invested to support the person’s family, and victim support is not involved. He also stresses the need for good and supportive police communication with families in such situations.
The Scottish Government’s submission sets out the process that is followed by both Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service when managing unexplained, reportable deaths. Police officers are expected to undertake a range of actions during an initial assessment to determine the response. If at any stage circumstances indicate a “police reportable death”, the assessment must be halted and officers must notify supervisors and the criminal investigation department.
In dealing with unexplained deaths, one of the key principles highlighted by the Scottish Government is that the deceased and any family or friends are treated with respect, dignity and compassion. Guidance states that consideration should also be given to the appointment of a family liaison officer for bereaved relatives.
Do members have any comments or suggestions?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
We can certainly do that. The information is in the public domain, but we can make sure that the minister is aware of it.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
Thank you, Mr Torrance. If colleagues have nothing to add, are members content to keep the petition open and to write to the organisations that Mr Torrance has suggested?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
I am very happy to accommodate that suggestion. Are members of the committee content to keep the petition open and to write to the organisations suggested ahead of further consideration when we receive responses?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 26 October 2022
Jackson Carlaw
PE1945, which is on banning the extraction and use of peat in horticulture and all growing media by 2023, was lodged by Elizabeth Otway. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to place a legal ban on the extraction of peat and peat imports, exports and sales in order to protect peatlands in Scotland and worldwide.
Elizabeth Otway states that the Scottish Government’s investment in peatland restoration is undermined by continued extraction and use of peat in horticulture. The call for a 2023 deadline is in line with the UK Climate Change Committee’s recommendation to ban peat extraction, sales and imports by 2023.
The Scottish Parliament information centre briefing notes that the Scottish Government’s commitment to phase out the use of horticultural peat has been made for several years. The UK Government aims to end the retail sale of peat and products containing peat in England and Wales by the end of the current UK Parliament, and by 2028 in the professional horticulture sector.
The Scottish Government’s response indicates that a public consultation will be launched shortly to inform its work in relation to banning the sale of peat-related gardening products, and it has commissioned research on the issue. The Scottish Government states that it is committed to setting a timescale for phasing out peat and to introducing legislation to support that.
In view of that suggestion to us from the Scottish Government, do members have any comments or further suggestions?
