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 972 contributions
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Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
PE1934, which was lodged by Craig Scoular on behalf of Greenfaulds high school rights and equalities committee, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to work with Education Scotland to develop an educational resource on gender-based violence for all year groups in high school. The resource should educate on the causes of gender-based violence and ensure that young people leave school with the tools to help them to create a safer society for women.
At our previous consideration of the petition, the committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and to COSLA. We requested information from COSLA on the current provision of gender-based violence lessons across local authorities. COSLA’s response details a number of on-going workstreams that schools are delivering in partnership with local rape crisis centres and Rape Crisis Scotland.
The submission from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills states that recording and monitoring of incidents in schools is essential, emphasising the importance of a consistent and uniform approach. SEEMiS, which is a local authority-owned tool, provides a function to record instances of sexual harassment. An evaluation was due to take place in 2022 to assess the success of the system. The submission also highlights upcoming reviews of personal and social education and prevention practices.
Does any member have any thoughts?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
PE1919, which was lodged by Ted Gourley, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ban the sale of fast-release caffeine gum to under-18s for performance enhancement due to the risk of serious harm.
At our previous consideration of the petition on 28 September 2022, where we agreed to seek information from the Scottish Government on when the report on the consultation on ending the sale of energy drinks to children and young people will be published.
We have now received a response from the Government, which states that it will publish an independent consultation analysis report and set out its policy response “in due course.” The response also suggests that the evidence base in relation to caffeine, and caffeine gum specifically, continues to develop. Furthermore, it will look to the European Food Safety Authority and others as the evidence base evolves to consider the implications for the current advice on caffeine products. At this stage, the Government is not considering a ban on the sale of fast-release caffeine products to under-18s.
We have also received two submissions from the petitioner in which he raises concerns about the lack of available evidence to understand the impacts of high-strength, fast-release caffeine products on athletes of various ages. Mr Gourley also offers suggestions for further information gathering by the committee, as well as drawing our attention to advice that the US Anti-Doping Agency provides in relation to caffeine.
Do any members have suggestions?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
Does the committee agree to all those recommendations?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
Do members agree with those suggestions?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
Does the committee agree to those suggestions?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
Before we conclude taking evidence, is there anything else that you would like to add?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
PE1986, on the provision of testing kits for drugs in public spaces, has been lodged by Andy Paterson on behalf of the help not harm campaign. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide free testing kits for drugs in public spaces such as local pharmacies, libraries and university buildings.
The SPICe briefing for the petition highlights recommendations of the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce, which states that drug testing should be supported and that current drug-checking facilities should be reviewed to ensure that they are open, transparent and accessible. The briefing points to a research project on licensed drug-checking facilities, which was due to report in January 2023, and another related project, which is due to conclude in March 2023.
The Scottish Government’s submission shares its reservations about the simplicity of the testing kits proposed in the petition. It highlights the planned establishment of drug-checking services in Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow through upcoming pilots. That approach includes laboratory testing and links to other drugs services and provides wider public health information about the drugs in circulation.
Do members have any comments or suggestions for action???
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
Do members agree with that suggestion?
Members indicated agreement.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
Perhaps Murdo Fraser would like to comment.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
New Petitions
Meeting date: 22 February 2023
David Torrance
PE1991, on developing an educational resource on abortion, has been lodged by Gemma Clark. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to work with Education Scotland to develop a health-focused and stigma-challenging educational resource on abortion and make it available to all secondary schools in Scotland.
Gemma believes that it is essential for all young people to receive medically accurate and health-focused education on abortion and that challenging the stigma around abortion is also essential for a well-rounded sexual health curriculum. In a written submission in support of her petition, Gemma has also raised concerns about anti-abortion groups visiting schools, and the importance of ensuring that young people are provided with factual information regarding their healthcare.
The Scottish Government has responded to the petition, as it often does in such cases, to state that the curriculum is not mandatory. It does not, however, share details of the relationships, sexual health and parenthood resources that are available to teachers.
11:15It is noted that the resources have been developed and peer reviewed in partnership with educators, health professionals and third sector organisations, with the intention of providing young people with learning that is factual and objective and that enables them to make informed choices about their sexual health and wellbeing.
The committee has also received submissions from the Humanist Society Scotland and Scottish Teachers for Positive Change and Wellbeing, as well as a joint letter from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Back Off Scotland. The submissions are broadly supportive of the petition’s aim to ensure that pupils receive medically accurate and health-focused education on abortion.
Do members have any comments or suggestions?
