Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, has pressed the First Minister to introduce a duty of candour for the dualling of the A9 as recommended by the Scottish Parliament’s influential Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee.
Following the inquiry undertaken by the Committee in 2023, which highlighted that a lack of agreement on the availability and type of funding significantly contributed to the failure to achieve the 2025 target for the dualling of the A9, the Committee called for a duty of candour to be introduced for major projects so that challenges are brought to light sooner. The inquiry was part of the Committee’s consideration of petition PE1992 from Laura Hansler which called on the Scottish Government to fulfil its 2011 promise to dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness.
Media reports earlier this week highlighted fresh doubt on whether the A9 will be completed by the new deadline of 2035 amid fears that the Scottish Government feels the private MIM funding agreement for some sections of the route is not value for money.
During First Minister’s Questions today (04.12.2025) Mrs Grant, asked the First Minister if he would commit to introducing a duty of candour for the A9 project as recommended by the Petitions Committee to ensure that the Parliament and the public are fully informed about progress, delays and financial challenges in real time.
The First Minister refused to commit to this, instead saying that “The Government responded to that request by indicating it would report regularly to Parliament and that’s exactly what the Government will do.”
Speaking afterwards Rhoda Grant said “One of the key recommendations in the Committee’s report was that a duty of candour should be introduced to prevent more of the same happening again but John Swinney has chosen to ignore this recommendation.
“A further recommendation of the report called for proper parliamentary scrutiny through the establishment of a parliamentary committee which could oversee major infrastructure projects, as was the case with the Queensferry Crossing project, and that too has been ignored.”
The Petition also called on the creation of a national memorial to all those who have lost their lives on the A9.
Mrs Grant continued “Again this week there was a serious accident at Ralia which left a woman in critical condition in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and saw two other people taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
“We must make this road safer and we must ensure that the delays of the first deadline are not repeated.”
The Committee’s report can be accessed via the following link:- https://bprcdn.parliament.scot/published/CPPP/2024/11/1/8f65ceeb-cf08-4cd6-8450-58602b333637/CPPPS062024R02.pdf