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The independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates acknowledged that exemption - where types of property are exempt from rating – is not the best way to affect non-domestic rates liabilities. The review highlighted that where properties are not valued and do not appear on the valuation roll the financial benefit to those concerned is unknown, which decreases transparency and has the potential to create unfairness for other ratepayers. Furthermore, exemptions are based on the property characteristics of lands and heritages, rather than occupiers. As such, any exemption for the property types that ALEOs operate would require to apply across the tax base, to all similar lands and heritages.

The independent Barclay Review recommended that charity relief be ended for ALEOs and the existing relief for ALEOs removed. The Scottish Government only accepted this recommendation in part, and on 28 November 2017 it was announced that properties being run by council ALEOs in receipt of relief, charitable or sports club, on that date would be able to retain that relief in full. However, to address the concerns of the continuing expansion of the ALEO approach, the cost of further relief to ALEOs would be offset to councils to mitigate against future ALEO expansion.

ALEOs are still able to claim relief, and Local Authorities may award the relief included within their baseline amount as they see fit. However, if the total amount awarded by the Council exceeds the established baseline, its Local Government settlement is adjusted by an offsetting amount.

People of all ages in Scotland living with Cystic Fibrosis have access to Specialist Cystic Fibrosis Centres. These include a Clinical Psychologist who forms part of the multidisciplinary team supporting the patient and their family.

Patient referrals will be made to the psychologist for in-patients, out-patients and those whom the multi-disciplinary team have specific concerns about. National Services Scotland- who commission adult CF Services- receive data about the work carried out by clinical psychologists within the annual reports for each Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre. This data, however, does not specifically state how many patients were seen by the psychologist at their annual review and instead relates to referrals and care episodes.

Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Services are commissioned and delivered by Local Health Boards, therefore information is not held centrally on the percentage of children who have seen a psychosocial professional at their 12 month review.

We are aware of the EU’s policy initiative to propose a new legal framework for plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis and for their food and feed products.

Should the EU move to change its regulatory framework, we will consider the implications for Scotland as details become available.

There is no single definition of a GMO for the agricultural context. Different definitions for GMOs exist in different regulatory regimes, including:

• in relation to deliberate release: section 106 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990,
• in relation to contained use: regulation 2 of the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2014,
• in relation to food and feed: article 2 of the retained EU Regulation (EC) 1829/2003.

While there is no legal definition of gene editing in Scotland, we recognise that gene editing is typically used to refer to a precise and targeted form of genetic modification. Gene edited organisms are legally considered GMOs.

We announced the new capital budget of £11.7 million for coastal change adaptation in the 2020 Programme for Government. Scottish Ministers and COSLA agreed a methodology to distribute the new budget to coastal local authorities based on evidence from Dynamic Coast which identifies assets most at risk from erosion ( https://www.dynamiccoast.com/ ). The budget covers the four-year period from 2022-23 until 2025-26, split as follows:

2022-23 - £1.6 million

2023-24 - £2.6 million

2024-25 - £2.7 million

2025-26 - £5.0 million

Total - £11.7 million

The distribution for 2022-23 and intended distribution for 2023-24 are as follows:

The Scottish Government can order a crop haulm to be destroyed at any time during the season. The Scottish Government conducts an annual surveillance programme of testing to ensure potato crops in Scotland remain free from many economically important pests and diseases and, in partnership with the potato industry, ensure that robust measures are in place to maintain Scotland’s high-health status and world-wide reputation for producing high quality seed potatoes.

The Scottish Government is committed to working across society to deliver lasting action that secures a just transition to climate resilience and net zero for Scotland. Our Just Transition Plans, representing a large degree of our policy, will identify concrete steps to manage the economic and social impacts of the transition fairly. We have committed to co-designing our Just Transition Plans to ensure they are underpinned by diversity and inclusion and support wider objectives on furthering equality and human rights across all protected characteristics. We will be publishing details on our approach to co-design, including the involvement of deaf and disabled people, shortly.

In November last year, Police Scotland had established a Gold command on the issue of spiking. Led by an Assistant Chief Constable, this comprised of a network of health partners, victim support organisations, colleges and universities and night time economy sector to achieve the right balance of targeted and universal intervention to ensure the safety of the public.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to strengthen our response to spiking, and ensure that people are supported to report, if something does happen.

This includes ongoing work with health partners to explore clinical and reporting pathways and to ensure clear and consistent messaging for anyone accessing health services where a drink is believed to have been spiked.

Within the Scottish Government funding of health research falls under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office.

Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded through the CSO's Long-term effects of COVID-19 call Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Final reports will be published on the CSO website upon completion of the projects. All the projects are scheduled to complete in Q1/Q2 of 2023.

Project final reports are the result of a collaborative effort between the individual project teams and members of the CSO Public Engagement Group who work together to ensure the reports are written in accessible language. There is therefore an inevitable short delay between the project end date and the publication of the final report.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07901 on 3 May 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers