Please note that the Scottish Parliament is not responsible for the content of any external websites.
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The programme of parliamentary business in the Chamber is normally decided two weeks in advance, although it is subject to change. If you want to find out what is happening in the next two weeks, you can look in Section B of the current Business Bulletin. If you want to find out what is happening in the Parliament today, you can look in Section A of the Business Bulletin. (The Business Bulletin is published on our website each weekday when the Parliament is sitting and at regular intervals when the Parliament is in recess.)
Information about the current business of Scottish Parliament committees can be found on the web pages of each committee. Committee agendas and information about forthcoming committee business are published in Section C of the Business Bulletin. (Committee agendas normally appear two days before the meeting.)
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All Scottish Parliament publications can be found on our website.
The Scottish Parliament does not have a public reading room in which you can consult official publications produced by the Parliament. However, public libraries provide internet access to the Scottish Parliament website, and some also hold printed copies of some documents.
If you have an enquiry about obtaining a printed copy of a Scottish Parliament document, please call APS Scottish Parliament Publications on 0131 629 9941.
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Website addresses for each of the political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament can be found in the fact sheet entitled “Contacting political parties currently in the Scottish Parliament”.
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If an MSP has a personal website and has informed the Parliament of the web address, details appear on their biography pages on the Scottish Parliament website. To see if an MSP has a personal website listed, click on "Contact Details" next to the name of the MSP in the Current Members section of the website.
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The Scottish Parliament offers free email updates during weeks when the Parliament is sitting, which include information about forthcoming debates and events. To subscribe to this service, complete the online form.
This service is now also available as an RSS feed. You can subscribe to this feed at the Weekly eBulletin RSS feed page of our website.
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You can follow all meetings in the Chamber and most committee meetings live in the Parliament TV section of our website.
The programme Holyrood Live normally provides some live coverage of proceedings in the Chamber on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Details can be found in the listings for the BBC.
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You can follow all meetings in the Chamber and most committee meetings live in the Parliament TV section of our website.
Video footage of parliamentary proceedings are also archived for one calendar month.
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The Business Bulletin is published on our website each weekday when the Parliament is sitting and at regular intervals when the Parliament is in recess. It contains information on forthcoming meetings of the Parliament and committees, a list of oral and written questions, current motions, bills, laid papers and committee reports, petitions and information on the progress of legislation. You can find current and previous Business Bulletins in the Parliamentary Business section of the website.
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You can access an electronic copy of all Scottish Parliament bills and their accompanying documents from the Bills section on our website. For a paper copy of a bill, please contact APS on 0131 629 9941.
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The Official Report is the full written report of what is said in public meetings of the Parliament and its committees. It includes debates, statements, questions, votes and evidence given to committees. For more information, see the publication The Official Report.
Official Reports of meetings of the Parliament are in the Official Report section of the website. Official Reports of committee meetings appear on the pages of the relevant committee in the Committees section of the website.
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In November 1997, the Secretary of State for Scotland set up the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament (CSG), which met for the first time in January 1998. The CSG was chaired by Henry McLeish, the Scottish Office Minister for Devolution, and was composed of representatives of the main political parties in Scotland and of other civic groups and interests. The remit of the CSG was to report on the “operational needs and working methods” of the Parliament and to make proposals for its standing orders and rules of procedure. Its main report, Shaping Scotland’s Parliament, was published in January 1999.
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A written question is one lodged by an MSP which is specified as being for written answer by a member of the Scottish Executive (the Scottish Government) or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.
Written questions are published in Section E of the Business Bulletin. Answers are provided in writing and published in the Written Answers Reports. They are also available through the Motions and Questions search facility. All admissible written questions will receive an answer.
All questions selected for a Question Time slot that are not answered orally in the Chamber will receive a written answer, which will be published in a Written Answers Report and available through the Motions and Questions search facility.
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Oral questions: The answers to oral questions that are taken in the Chamber at Question Time are published in the Official Report of the relevant meeting. If you have the reference number for an oral question (e.g. S1O-100) but are uncertain when it may have been considered in the Chamber, you can use the Advanced Official Report Search facility on the website to trace the relevant Official Report. In the section headed Keywords, enter the reference number for the question; and in the section headed Type of parliamentary business, click on the box next to 'Oral Questions' to limit your search.
Written questions: You can use the Questions & Answers Search facility on our website to find the response to any question that has received a written answer. (Written answers are provided for written questions and for oral questions that are not taken in the Chamber at Question Time.)
Key to references for parliamentary questions:
S1 = Session 1, S2 = Session 2, S3 = Session 3, S4 = Session 4
O = an oral question
F = a question lodged for answer by the First Minister
W = a written question
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You can find the Written Answers Report in the Motions, Questions & Answers section of the website.
The Written Answers Report contains the text of written questions lodged by MSPs and the answers given by members of the Scottish Government, the Presiding Officer and members the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.
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The text of what was said during a debate in the Chamber is available in the Official Report of that day’s meeting of the Parliament. (Official Reports of meetings in the Chamber are published on our website around 21.00 on the day of the meeting.)
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Hansard is the name used for the Official Report of proceedings in the UK Parliament that provides a full written record of what is said in Parliament, as well as Written Ministerial Statements and Written Answers.
In the Scottish Parliament, the Official Report is the full written report of what is said in public meetings of the Parliament and its committees. It includes debates, statements, questions, votes and evidence given to committees. For more information, see the publication The Official Report.
Official Reports of meetings of the Parliament are in the Official Report section of the website. Official Reports of committee meetings appear on the pages of the relevant committee in the Committees section of the website.
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- The full text of all Acts of the Scottish Parliament is published electronically on the legislation.gov.uk website.
- Paper copies of Acts of the Scottish Parliament can be purchased through The Stationery Office.
- You may also be able to consult printed copies of Acts of the Scottish Parliament at a library.
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The Scottish Parliament’s Education Service produces a range of resources designed to fit in with the curriculum in Scottish primary and secondary schools, as well as materials for teachers and interactive resources on the internet.
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Green and white papers are consultation documents issued by the Government. Green papers set out policy proposals for discussion; white papers are more detailed statements of government policy.
These terms are primarily associated with documents issued by UK Government departments and are not generally used by the Scottish Government to describe the consultation documents it issues. Details of the Scottish Government's consultations are published on its website.
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You can order copies of the leaflets shown on our Publications page by using the Publications Order Form on our website.