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: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
Sure—I will be quick. I have two questions, but we could park for later the question about the use of the long Covid pathway, rather than the long Covid clinics that have been established in the NHS Borders area. I am interested in knowing about the best way to look after long Covid patients.
The other issue goes back to what Ralph Roberts said on Friday, which was that making progress on recovery has required working with registered social landlords to look at housing and wider aspects of supporting people in order to practise reablement. We do not use that word a lot, but it simply means supporting people to get the best care and to get them home. Is that part of what you are doing to make progress on recovery?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
I know. It used to be called murder ball and now it is wheelchair rugby.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
Thanks.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 March 2023
Emma Harper
No—I am okay, convener.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Emma Harper
We heard from Dr Henrietta Hughes, the Patient Safety Commissioner for England, who produced a report reflecting on her first 100 days in the role, which considered what the remit could be and what could be explored more widely. Could that approach be used as a way to measure how we take the role of the patient safety commissioner forward in Scotland? The report could be made to Parliament.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Emma Harper
I am sure that the role will evolve, because different projects will be undertaken and problems will be solved. For instance, an approach that works in one session of Parliament might be different to what works in another session.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Emma Harper
It was interesting to read that the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body said:
“The process is complicated, but we are moving into a period in which it is becoming regarded as a casual thing to suggest and implement the establishment of another commissioner”.—[Official Report, Finance and Public Administration Committee, 10 January 2023; c 20.]
That is not the language that I would have used, because I think that ensuring patient safety and addressing and preventing harm are absolutely reasonable. I say that as a former nurse who worked in situations in which there were issues in operating theatres. I am interested in knowing what you would say about the evidence that was submitted to the Finance and Public Administration Committee about the establishment of a new parliamentary commissioner or new commissioners becoming “a casual thing” that takes insufficient account of the associated budgetary consequences for the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. I ask that on behalf of the Finance and Public Administration Committee.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Emma Harper
The report is interesting. I have a couple of questions. One is about the report’s recommendations regarding the fun side of sport. Not all women want to be elite athletes. If they do, we give them support to develop. There is a difference between being competitive and engaging with or participating in sport. What did you find out about competition versus participation for fun?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Emma Harper
My other question is about the types of sport that are offered to young women and girls. Were you able to determine—by local authority, for instance—whether there was a wide variety in the sporting activity on offer? Jenni Snell mentioned that some facilities might only be in Edinburgh or Glasgow. For instance, the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena seems to be increasing in popularity, and a lot of schools have climbing walls and things like that. However, in Dumfries and Galloway, where I am from, which is rural, people have to go to Carlisle or Edinburgh to compete, or even just to have fun.
I am interested in whether you carried out an audit of the sports offer. There is such a variety of sports, such as track and field, cross country, team sports, individual sports and gymnastics. I have had an opportunity to experience kayaking, which I absolutely love, although it is a bit scary on the water. Did you conduct an audit of the offer for young women and girls?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2023
Emma Harper
The minister will know that I am interested in the remit of the patient safety commissioner as far as it covers advocating for people and groups of people. For 20 years now, people in the south-west corner of Scotland have had to get radiotherapy in Edinburgh instead of going to Glasgow, and that means unnecessary travel. I am interested to know whether that might be something that a patient safety commissioner could pick up on by advocating for and listening to people who are really upset after 20 years of asking, “Why am I driving past the Beatson and going to Edinburgh for my radiotherapy treatment?” Could a patient safety commissioner advocate for, listen to and support a specific group of people such as the one that I have just described?