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 547 contributions
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Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Mark Griffin
On amendment 1057, I am reassured by what the minister has said on how it would work and the existing legislation that the Government feels already covers the matter. However, we still need to pay close attention to the operation of the bill if it becomes an act and guard against the potential for someone to be held in limbo between prevention and actual homelessness, and the different duties that would apply to that person from the local authority. It is worth keeping an eye on that.
I have taken on board what the minister has said about amendment 1090. Although there is, as he will be aware, strong support for the principle of ask and act and prevention, there is also a clear desire for more detail about how it would operate for the individual and the rights that they would be able to pursue, if they felt that the ask and act duty had not been upheld by a particular public body. More crucially, there is also a clear desire for much greater clarity about training, knowledge and expectations with regard to the public bodies that would exercise it.
I do not plan to move amendment 1090 today, but I hope that there will be further discussions involving stakeholders and the Government. I am happy to be involved in any of those discussions to provide greater clarity on what ask and act specifically means.
I will close there, convener, and seek permission to withdraw amendment 1057.
Amendment 1057, by agreement, withdrawn.
Amendment 1035 moved—[Kevin Stewart].
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Meeting date: 27 March 2025
Mark Griffin
I support all the amendments in the group. My amendments 1057 and 1090 would add an overall set of principles for the duties in part 5 to prevent homelessness that relevant bodies would work under, to add clarity. With amendment 1057, I am seeking clarity and reassurance from the Government that there will be a clear end point in the application of the prevention duties, so that a person is not trapped in a prevention process without getting to the point at which they are declared homeless—so that they are not left in limbo, so to speak. I seek reassurance from the Government on that.
Amendment 1057 would ensure that, when a local authority has taken all the relevant steps to remove a threat of homelessness and the applicant still does not have stable accommodation, the applicant should be considered homeless. It would create a power to limit the time allowed to take those steps without there being a successful outcome, so that the applicant is not trapped in that situation. If, after reasonable attempts, the steps taken by the local authority under section 32 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 fail to secure accommodation, there needs to be a clear point at which it is then decided that homelessness cannot be prevented through the duty. I am looking for clarity and reassurance from the Government that it feels that such a situation should not arise and that there must be a clear point at which someone goes from being dealt with under the prevention duty to being treated as a homeless applicant.
On amendment 1090, I have a concern that the bill lacks detail on how the prevention duty will work in practice. There is strong cross-party and cross-sector support for the duty, but there are still questions about how it will work in practice. I am attempting to introduce a set of principles to the bill to alleviate some of those concerns. Examples of legislation in which a set of principles has been introduced include the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill and the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.
The principles that I have set out seek to underpin the prevention duty. Homelessness prevention is a shared responsibility that requires actions to be taken by all relevant bodies. Relevant staff of named bodies would be provided with the necessary training to ensure a person-centred approach to homelessness prevention. Named bodies would work together towards shared outcomes for households that are at risk of homelessness or are homeless. Relevant bodies would be held to account to ensure that all opportunities for homelessness prevention are explored.
I look forward to hearing the Government’s response to my two amendments.
I move amendment 1057.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
Survey and remediation guidance is in place for non-domestic properties. Would you welcome that for domestic properties? If so, what would you like to see in that guidance from Government?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
When RAAC has been a critical issue that has led to decants, what has been the wider knock-on effect on council temporary accommodation provision and homelessness services?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
I want to go back to Euan McCallum. I am interested in how landlords and local authorities are dealing with terraced blocks where RAAC is present. Some RAAC panels will straddle multiple properties, so it is effectively impossible to remediate a council property without doing a neighbouring owner-occupied or privately let property. Does the current legal framework prevent you from doing what you need to do? I do not want to say that it is almost easier to do the work in flats, but at least there is a legal framework for tenements and flatted developments, where there are legal obligations on shared roof spaces. Is there a legal impediment to remediating an entire terraced row that needs to be done because of the crossover of RAAC panels between properties?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
Susie Fitton, is this an issue that you are aware of among your members? From what has been said, there seems to be a trend of a move to in-house provision of surveying and remedying. Is that picture replicated across your member associations?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
Thank you.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
Do any other landlords have experience of panels that go across terraced rows?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
The committee has heard representatives of tenants groups talk about a lack of trust and faith in landlords when it comes to identifying issues with damp and mould, and there are issues of trust with the contractors who remedy that damp and mould. Are you aware of that level of mistrust? How prevalent do you feel it is? Is it an issue when it comes to interacting with tenants? I will start with Murray Sharp.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Building Safety and Maintenance
Meeting date: 25 March 2025
Mark Griffin
The Scottish Government has lodged stage 2 amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Bill to make it easier for social housing tenants with damp and mould to get their home fixed within a set timescale. What is the SFHA’s position on that proposed change to the bill? Do you have a view on whether legislation is necessary?
