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Plant and machinery for any power generation is already excluded from rating valuation where the power is mainly for distribution for sale to consumers. Notwithstanding that, plant and machinery for micro-generation relying on a solar power source has since 2009 been excluded from rating valuation. The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with the UK Government on this matter.

Plant and machinery for micro-generation (as defined in the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006) has since 2009 been exempted from rating valuation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government believes in free and open trade and we welcome the benefits that trade agreements can bring, in CETA, particularly the elimination of nearly all import duties and strengthened cooperation between European and Canadian standard setting bodies. However we must take the greatest care to ensure that issues about which the public are rightly concerned are dealt with.

NHS Scotland has not been specifically listed as exempt from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

As indicated in response to S5W-00972, the Scottish Government carried out an initial assessment of the Section D provisions of CETA and considered it unlikely that these would to any appreciable extent restrict the legislation which the Scottish Parliament can pass in the interests of the public and the environment. Since then, it was announced on 29 February 2016 that the European Commission and the Canadian Government have agreed to include a new approach on investment protection and investment dispute settlement, the investor Court System in CETA.

Whilst this goes some way to addressing concerns about ISDS, the Scottish Government remains of the view that, given the established legal systems and strong rule of law in the EU and Canada, disputes between investors and states should be settled in domestic courts. Furthermore, the Scottish Ministers have emphasised that Governments must be free to act and regulate in the public interest and that CETA must not include anything which enables companies to sue because they disagree with democratic public policy. We understand that the Commission will work with Canada to further elaborate some of the parameters of this new system and look forward to seeing the outcome of that work.

Our initial assessment constituted legal advice and, as such, we would not publish that advice.

In September 2016, the former Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment wrote to the UK Government's Secretary of State for Agriculture, Rural Affairs and the Environment seeking an explanation as to why, when other countries have sought protection, the UK Government does not appear to have put forward any Protected Food Names for inclusion in CETA to give Scottish producers protection in Canada. However we welcome the fact that the agreement means the EU can add other products' names to the list in the future.

Now that Canada and the EU have signed the agreement it will be laid before the UK Parliament for ratification. Now is an opportune time to re emphasise to the UK Government that our ability to regulate and our ability to determine how the national health service should operate in our country should in no way be compromised by trade agreements and I have written today to Secretary of State for International Trade in those terms.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03348 on 16 November 2016. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03348 on 16 November 2016.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

Transport Scotland provides general, non-statutory guidance to local authorities about how they can go about administering the blue badge scheme. It is for local authorities, however, to ensure that they are adhering to the statutory criteria for obtaining a blue badge.

The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 gave local authorities the discretion to charge a fee not exceeding £20 for the issue or re-issue of a blue badge. A charge may only be made only when an application is successful and a blue badge is issued. We have no plans to review this grant of discretion to local authorities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03834 on 8 November 2016. All answers to parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

A Direction issued to all Heads of Planning from the Chief Planner on 8 October 2015 required planning applications for underground coal gasification (UCG) development received by planning authorities to be sent to Scottish Ministers. The covering letter explained that this was to ensure the Government’s position on UCG is reflected through the planning decision making process.

To ensure consistency across regulatory regimes, a similar Direction was issued by Scottish Ministers on the same date to SEPA regarding any relevant new Controlled Activity Regulation (CAR) licenses.

As the Directions are still in place, there is no requirement to make changes to them, or to the Scottish Planning Policy. As I made clear in my ministerial statement, I have also written to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, to request that the UK Government revoke existing licences for UCG activities, and undertake to not issue any further licences, to respect the decision of the Scottish Government that UCG should play no part in Scotland's future energy mix.

The report of the desk-based review of game bird hunting in selected other countries will be considered by the Scottish Government when it is formally submitted by Scottish Natural Heritage. Any decisions on next steps will be taken in the light of that consideration. It is a matter for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee to decide whether to consider the report of the review as part of its programme of work.