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 1580 contributions
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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Energy Price Rises
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Monica Lennon
It is welcome that you went to the House of Commons last week and set out a proposal. You said to the UK Government that there should be a social tariff that would take £1,000 off the bills of people who are struggling the most. If the Government does not agree to do that, what will be the consequence? Without a social tariff, what do you fear will happen?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Energy Price Rises
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Monica Lennon
Thank you for that answer. I would say, though, that many people will disagree and say that there is a moral case for a freeze.
Natalie Don touched on the issue of profits, and you have given quite a comprehensive answer on that. Another figure that I have seen in some media sources in recent months is the more than £7 billion in operating profits that the big six energy firms have banked in just five years. Do you understand why some people feel quite offended when energy companies—I am not saying that your company does this—tell them to hug their pets, put on socks or jump up and down? Can you see why people feel let down? Do you see why, when people hear companies say, “Don’t freeze the cap—let’s bring in a social tariff,” they feel that the Government and the companies need to do more?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Energy Price Rises
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Monica Lennon
Thank you, Chris. I am aware of the time, so I will hand back to the convener.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 26 April 2022
Monica Lennon
Indeed. Just for clarity, the deputy convener mentioned finance skills as an example of a skill set that will be required. Can you be specific about some of the other skills that you feel are integral to this work to enable us to deliver on the ambition for local heat and energy efficiency planning Scotland-wide? What examples of skills do you have in mind when you think about this discussion?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Energy Price Rises
Meeting date: 19 April 2022
Monica Lennon
This has been a really interesting session so I have been quite happy to mostly listen. I was struck by one of the comments about the behaviour changes that people can make. I accept that there are things that we can all do, but it strikes me that we do not have a behaviour crisis here—it is a market crisis and a system crisis.
One view is that increasing democratic ownership of Scotland’s energy resources could help to support local energy co-operatives and smaller energy companies. Do panel members have a view on the role that a Scottish publicly owned energy company could play in protecting consumers and the climate by providing clean, green and affordable energy? I know that people want to hear about immediate solutions so that we do not have bills of £3,000 a year, but if we think about what an energy system could look like in the medium to longer term, what could the Scottish Government be doing?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Energy Price Rises
Meeting date: 19 April 2022
Monica Lennon
Thank you. I am not getting any indication that other panellists want to chip in.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
P&O Ferries
Meeting date: 29 March 2022
Monica Lennon
Could you just answer the question? Are you expecting to receive a bonus in this financial year or the next one?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
P&O Ferries
Meeting date: 29 March 2022
Monica Lennon
I am trying to believe you, but you have confessed to being a lawbreaker, so it is hard to believe anything that comes out of your mouth—
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 29 March 2022
Monica Lennon
You can answer if you have anything to add, but it is not compulsory to have a view.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero
Meeting date: 29 March 2022
Monica Lennon
Good morning. Last week, the committee had a really good evidence session on planning and the skills that planners will need, particularly in local government. The Royal Town Planning Institute published research in June 2021 that found that local authority planning budgets have reduced by 42 per cent since 2009. Has that reduction in resource had an impact on how your members engage with planning departments?
