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.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
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.
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.
There are two types of keyword search:
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.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
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:
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.
Displaying 884 contributions
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 16 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
I really appreciate that, convener. I apologise if I missed anything and my questions have been answered. If that is the case, please just say so.
My first question is for John Taylor. I know that Mears has been looking at forming a housing association. Are you able to update on any progress around that? How might that impact the work that you do with asylum seekers?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
I had another question, but, in the interests of time, that is okay.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
That is a very detailed description of some of the services and the way in which they are and can be delivered, and I thank you for that. Do you have any idea of how much asylum seekers and refugees know that they can access those services? Do you feel that they are accessed regularly and that there is a general understanding that they can be accessed? Whether asylum seekers and refugees want to access them is a different issue. Do you think that we can do more to ensure that people understand that they can access that support should they wish to?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
Thank you, and I am happy to go to Louise Long, if that is all right. I have three areas of questioning. The convener will be glad to hear that I do not propose to ask all five panellists each question. Louise, will you pick up on the interpreter issue?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
I have a final line of questioning, if that is all right?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
I want to follow on from my colleague Paul O’Kane by asking about access to services and support.
I will start with Bronagh Andrew. What more can the Scottish Government and local authorities do to increase the consistency of support that asylum seekers receive? Would it be beneficial if a lot more was free at the point of access, such as, for example, bus passes? I know that that is quite a broad question, but I am trying to find another way to ask a question on a similar area to Paul’s.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
Just following on from my colleague’s line of questioning, I note that, in the earlier evidence session—you might have heard some of it—there was a wee bit of discussion about interpreters and access to interpreters for asylum seekers. Can panellists tell the committee about the provision and use of language interpreters across Scotland? I am trying to think who on the panel is best placed to answer. I will start with Gayle Findlay, for the COSLA perspective, and see where we go from there.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
Thanks very much for that, Susanne, and I thank the other witnesses. We have heard in both evidence sessions this morning, and previously, that this is an issue that the committee can certainly take forward.
I want to ask about asylum seekers and refugees who need mental health support. How readily available is that support for asylum seekers? Do they know and understand that they can access it? I am looking at you, Dr Nina Koruth. Perhaps you can come in on that.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
How can local authorities and government more widely be ahead of the game and know which interpreters are needed? How could that information be shared so that a local authority, such as North Lanarkshire Council, which covers the area that I represent, could say what interpreters might be required. Who would be able to provide information in response to that? Would it be the Government? Would it be the third sector?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Fulton MacGregor
It strikes me that that could be a really difficult and complicated issue. I recently held an event for a large number of Ukrainian refugees who have settled in Coatbridge. We got all the folk in place, but, unfortunately, the interpreter who was due to come could not make it on the day. The Member of Parliament and I were about to address the refugees who came, and it just so happened that a lady who was there was able to interpret. It is a massive issue.
Claire Dobson and Elaine Tomlinson, in your dealings with people, do you recognise Bronagh Andrew’s comments about interpreters? Is that an issue, or do you always have access to interpreters?