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 1148 contributions
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 27 February 2024
Emma Harper
The bill deals with protected premises, and there is a definition of protected premises in it. The bill also has commitments for future proofing aspects of it, including the potential to extend its scope in the future to cover general practices, pharmacies and other areas that provide support. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the definition of protected premises and the ability to modify that in the future.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 27 February 2024
Emma Harper
I have in front of me section 8 of the bill, which deals with reduction. Would you require further consultation on that, as opposed to ministers simply making decisions? Are you saying that 200m should be the shortest distance but that ministers should be required to consult on any alteration of a zone to ensure that any changes are informed by evidence?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 27 February 2024
Emma Harper
Wherever zones might be in the future, a 200m radius is proposed in Scotland. That is different from what is in the UK legislation, which provides for 150m. From reading our briefing papers, 150m seems to be adequate, except at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow, which has a part where people could gather and be heard from the wards that provide healthcare for women. What are your thoughts on the 200m proposal in Scotland and on the potential to give ministers the flexibility to extend or reduce the zones?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 27 February 2024
Emma Harper
My question follows on from Sandesh Gulhane’s question about silent prayer. Does the other legislation look at the number of people standing outside a clinic? There is a difference between having one person, who might be a minister or a priest, and having 10 people. Does the legislation cover when it is okay to walk into a place or to stand outside in silence?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 27 February 2024
Emma Harper
My next question is on a different subject—the rights of protesters versus those of women who are seeking an abortion. Our briefing papers say that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women found that several aspects of the law on abortion in Northern Ireland violated women’s rights. Its report made a number of recommendations to
“Protect women from harassment by anti-abortion protesters by investigating complaints and prosecuting and punishing perpetrators.”
I am interested in aspects where the rights of women who are seeking medical care supersede the right of people to protest and the right to free speech.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Emma Harper
This relates to my previous question about what should or should not be in the bill. You have already given information about the number of stakeholders who have fed into the process—you said that it was about 1,300—and about people who have volunteered to participate in looking at policy development as we go through. How do we make sure that people who will benefit from any rural funding engage with the process, feed into it and are part of it? It is not just farmers. As I heard at the meeting on Monday, where there were farmers, crofters, land users and community development people, creating thriving communities is part of the discussion.
Going back to the bill, which is what we are talking about, there are stakeholders who think that a clearer direction of travel or key parameters for future support are needed in the bill. What do you think of that? Again, I am going back to engagement with stakeholders, because in looking at the bill and the information in front of me, there could be clearer information about biodiversity, regeneration, sustainable farming and emissions reduction. I would be interested in hearing what you think about that.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Emma Harper
Part of this is about allowing for the flexibility and ability to incorporate whatever science, technology or research delivers, in order to support the whole process. It is about allowing flexibility to be built in, in relation to a further support plan down the line.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Emma Harper
I am pleased to speak to amendment 81. The amendment would increase the maximum period for which a grouse licence may be granted from one year to five years. This issue has been brought up by many land managers and estate owners, including those in Dumfries and Galloway and in the Scottish Borders, and I understand that it featured heavily in much of the evidence that the committee heard and considered at stage 1.
As is the case with many other businesses, grouse moor management is a long-term undertaking, and it requires careful planning and up-front capital investment. Land managers whom my office has engaged with as recently as yesterday have expressed concerns that an annual licence will not provide the certainty that is needed to undertake long-term financial and business planning for the management of grouse moors.
NatureScot also reassured the committee during its stage 1 evidence taking that it would prefer more flexibility on the licence duration and that
“A licence duration of between three and five years sounds about right and sits more comfortably with other civil licensing schemes that we know work well.”—[Official Report, Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, 21 June 2023; c 30.]
I also know that, when giving evidence at stage 1 as the then minister for the bill, Gillian Martin indicated that she was willing to consider a change to the duration of the licence. Some have called for a shift to 10-year licences, and we have just heard that Rachael Hamilton’s amendment 63 proposes to make that change. That feels too long with regard to being able to assess any changes in circumstances, as has been indicated by RSPB Scotland.
It is right that there is a periodic review of licence holders—whatever the licence may be—and renewal allows that to happen. A maximum licence duration of five years seems to strike the right balance. Any longer than that could undermine the effectiveness of the licensing scheme. A five-year licence would give land managers and estates the certainty that they need to manage and invest in their businesses, while ensuring that the licensing authority retains enough oversight to ensure that everyone is adhering to statutory requirements and best practice.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Emma Harper
I am pleased that the minister gave me the time to deal with amendment 83, as it was originally his amendment, and I encourage members to vote for it.
Amendment 83 agreed to.
Amendments 138 and 139 not moved.
Amendment 19 moved—[Edward Mountain].
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting date: 21 February 2024
Emma Harper
I am a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, which that committee is considering, is a framework bill, as well. We had a stushie in the process because of what is not in that bill but will be developed in co-design.
The technology is developing really quickly. Scotland’s Rural College, which does research and development and works on the science, welcomes the framework bill because it will allow adaptations for whatever we do in the future, such as emissions reduction in ruminants and things like that.
I am interested in engagement in the co-design process, given that there are a lot of parallels between the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill and the bill that we are discussing, as they are both framework bills. I am interested to hear how the co-design process is being done with land users, farmers and crofters in order to give people confidence and give the process stability.