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.
Criathragan Hide all filters
Displaying 1877 contributions
|
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
You are just going to check whether that was within the flexibility in the margins.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
I would like to know where the restrictions are and where the ship can now be used. Are there more limitations on those vessels because of the current specifications, rather than the specifications that were set in the original contract? I am happy to get those details in writing but, ultimately, that is just numbers, and numbers alone are meaningless. What is meaningful is whether or not those two vessels can now technically do less if, at some point in the future, they were to be redeployed elsewhere to do other tasks.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
That is helpful, but I ask you to reflect on the basic point that I am making. Unless this is their bread and butter or their business, anyone listening to this meeting just wants to know whether the two vessels will be less effective on their current routes. We have a clear expectation that that will not be the case and that they will do exactly as was always intended, but they could be redeployed for other purposes within the fleet at some point in the future. Are there more restrictions on what they can or cannot do because of the variation in specifications?
Mr Hobbs said that there will technically be two fewer articulated lorries. That explanation becomes meaningful to someone, rather than the numbers that are flying about. It would be helpful if, either here this morning or in writing, we could get a meaningful explanation on that because, quite frankly, most people are just hearing gobbledygook. That would be helpful.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
Okay. I do not want to pursue that any further other than to ask a more general question, which is not related to dead weight. After signing contracts for vessels to be delivered, is it normal or routine that those who win those contracts will, at some point during the construction phase, approach their partner and say, “We believe that there is a case for a contract specification variation,” and then seek agreement with those who have given them the contract in the first place? Is that unusual or is it routine?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
Can you say a bit more about when that has happened in the past?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
That is good to hear, and that is not lost on me. I had supplementary questions because we just had numbers flying about, which became meaningless to me, quite frankly.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
What is the ITT? As it is the first time you have used the term, could you—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
Thank you.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
That is context, because, although we may not have known the acronyms, we kind of knew the amount. It is more about how price, quality and other criteria are considered once those bids are finalised and put in for consideration.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Ferry Services
Meeting date: 7 January 2025
Bob Doris
I will be careful with my next question on quality, because every bidder must be dealt with consistently and equitably as part of the process.
In relation to quality, a bid on paper can be very different from what is delivered in the shipyard. In relation to the demand to build, is phase 1 of the small vessels programme more straightforward, given the other questions that we have been asking about other ships under contract? Does the track record of individual shipyards in delivering such vessels in the past come into play when determining who wins an award? Also, how can you compare the bidders when two of the bidders have never bid for work with you guys before—so they are new entrants from your point of view—while the other four bidders have an on-going relationship with you?
How do you balance the quality on paper with what the quality will be on delivery? Anyone can put on paper that the vessel or vessels will be good quality, but it is delivery that counts, within the cost envelope. How do you disaggregate that when determining quality?
