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 1521 contributions
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Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 17 February 2026
Emma Harper
The suspension of visits arose because of the Covid pandemic. That was an international health crisis, as opposed to a local issue, such as a norovirus outbreak, for which different measures would be put in place for visiting, including a requirement for personal protective equipment to be used. I suppose that it is not an isolated decision; it must be made collaboratively, in recognition of what is going on across the country.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]
Food Standards Scotland and the First National Good Food Nation Plan
Meeting date: 17 February 2026
Emma Harper
As part of all of that, we need to make sure that people are not living in food deserts where they do not have access to food that they can cook quickly and easily. It all intermingles with the cost of living crisis, when it also costs money to turn on the gas burner and cook a meal and all of that. For me, part of the good food nation plan—this is the first plan—is about starting to raise awareness and work together to look at what we can do to shift and address issues such as childhood obesity.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]
Food Standards Scotland and the First National Good Food Nation Plan
Meeting date: 17 February 2026
Emma Harper
Aye, sure, if we are already there. I am glad that these witnesses are here today, because I have a great interest in this subject. I have previously raised issues about the Nova classification and Carlos Monteiro’s work in São Paulo in Brazil in relation to how we define ultra-high-processed food, or ultra-processed food, as it is more commonly known. When that work was done—in, I think, 2019—the evidence included that reducing salt, fat and sugar was the way to go, because ultra-high-processed food contains high fat, sugar and salt.
I would be interested in hearing about any recent evidence that supports or refutes the findings of the Nova classification and about what more can be done. I know that there is on-going research, because Nova has been criticised.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]
Food Standards Scotland and the First National Good Food Nation Plan
Meeting date: 17 February 2026
Emma Harper
Geoff Ogle, on the issue of high fat, sugar and salt, are you aware of current research to look at the chemicals that are added—for example, stabilisers, emulsifiers, flavourings and colourings—and how those affect people physically and mentally?
I talk about being satiated or not. Some food additives switch off the brain’s ability to say, “I’m full—I’m done.” People have proposed that some of the chemicals that are added affect our ability to feel satiated.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]
Food Standards Scotland and the First National Good Food Nation Plan
Meeting date: 17 February 2026
Emma Harper
I will move on to the recommendation to reduce the consumption of red meat and dairy in the Scottish diet. When I looked further, I found that the recommendation was not just to reduce red meat but to reduce red and processed meat—we need to remember that.
I come from a dairy and meat-producing region. The recommendation is to reduce the consumption of red and processed meat to no more than 70g every day, and I believe that two thirds of people in Scotland already do that. We heard about that in the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee when we took evidence on the good food nation plan and the climate change plan. That means that a third of people are consuming more than 70g, but we need to remember that two thirds of Scottish people are consuming less than 70g.
What advice have you given the Government about the recommendation in relation to 70g of red and processed meat, as well as a reduction in dairy? Some kids out there wouldnae get the calcium or micronutrients that they need if they did not have half a pint of milk each day. That is my concern, given that we live in a world with food banks.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 17 February 2026
Emma Harper
Engagement is required between all the professionals involved, including Public Health Scotland, local authorities and health and social care partnerships, but what is required in that engagement? Is there a formal requirement for a process that will outline how they come to a decision?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Emma Harper
I want to follow up on Tim Eagle’s original question. Witnesses reported that vessel sales were down and businesses were closing and that there was reduced harbour activity in Maidens, Girvan and Campbeltown. We know about depopulation and the challenges that rural communities face. You have touched on the need for engagement to ensure that we strike a balance in rural communities. Will you work directly with folks in Girvan, Maidens and Campbeltown on that?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Emma Harper
A new SSI could not be prepared in the remainder of this parliamentary session, could it?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Emma Harper
Cabinet secretary, you were just saying that this is a specific order and that other work is being done on fishing in general and on other species, other collaborations and working with fishermen, whether they are the pelagic fishermen or the inshore people. Other work is therefore being done that feeds into the intelligence and the knowledge that we use to make these decisions. Is that correct?
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 11 February 2026
Emma Harper
Elaine Wyllie told us that she is totally open to engaging and working with you all. Obviously, you will welcome that. Can you say a wee bit about that?
