In February 2023, the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee began considering a petition which calls on the Scottish Government to fulfil its 2011 promise to dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness, improve road safety on this road, and consider the creation of a national memorial to those who have tragically lost their lives on the road.
Full details are available on the petition webpage:
PE1992: Dual the A9 and improve road safety
The subject of this petition falls within the remit of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. They were invited to nominate a reporter to attend and contribute to consideration of PE1992. The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee nominated its Convener, Edward Mountain MSP, to this role.
Find out more about the Committee’s initial consideration of the petition:
CPPPC consideration of petition PE1992: Dual the A9 and improve road safety
Having gathered initial views on the issues raised by this petition, the Committee agreed to elevate its scrutiny to the level of an inquiry.
On 30 October 2023, the Committee wrote to the Scottish Government to request copies of the advice provided to Ministers on progress to dual the A9 between 2012 and 2023. It also wrote to former Ministers for Transport seeking information on the advice they received in the role.
Letter from Convener to Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, 30 October 2023 (144KB, pdf) posted 30 October 2023
Letter from Convener to former Ministers, 30 October 2023 (141KB, pdf) posted 30 October 2023
Derek Mackay submission, 19 November 2023 (155KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
Graeme Dey MSP submission, 21 November 2023 (212KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
Nicola Sturgeon MSP submission, 23 November 2023 (177KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
Jenny Gilruth MSP submission, 23 November 2023 (188KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition submission, 24 November 2023 (182KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
Keith Brown MSP submission, 4 December 2023 (149KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
First Minister submission, 8 December 2023 (167KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
Michael Matheson MSP submission, 19 December 2023 (112KB, pdf) posted 19 December 2023
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition submission, 20 December 2023 (92KB, pdf) posted 20 December 2023
Transport Scotland submission, 12 February 2024 (224KB, pdf) posted 13 February 2024
A call for views on methods for dualling the A9, road safety measures, and the proposal for a national memorial, ran from 9 August to 15 September 2023.
Read the responses to the call for views
SPICe Summary of the call for views (172KB, pdf) posted 30 April 2024
Additional responses were also received from:
Transform Scotland (196KB, pdf) posted 26 September 2023
Chris Miller (95KB, pdf) posted 26 September 2023
Killiecrankie, Fincastle and Tummel Community Council (194KB, pdf) posted 29 September 2023
John Mason MSP (142KB, pdf) posted 29 September 2023
22 February 2023
At the first consideration of petition PE1992: Dual the A9 and improve road safety, the Committee agreed to gather written and oral evidence from a range of stakeholders, including the Petitioner, the Minister for Transport, community councils and the transport and engineering industry.
14 June 2023
The Committee heard evidence from the Petitioner, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Scotland, and Transport Scotland.
Read the Official Report of the meeting
6 September 2023
The Committee agreed to elevate its scrutiny of petition PE1992 to the level of an inquiry.
4 October 2023
The Committee heard evidence from Alex Neil, former Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment.
Read the Official Report of the meeting
25 October 2023
The Committee considered its approach to the inquiry, and agreed to write to the Scottish Government to request copies of the advice provided to Ministers on progress to dual the A9 between 2012 and 2023.
The Committee also agreed to invite written evidence from former Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers who held portfolio responsibility for infrastructure and transport between 2012 and 2023.
Read the Official Report of the meeting
24 January 2024
The Committee heard evidence from CECA Scotland, and current and former senior officials at Transport Scotland
Read the Official Report of the meeting
7 February 2024
The Committee heard evidence from Màiri McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, and senior officials from Transport Scotland.
Read the Official Report of the meeting
21 February 2024
The Committee considered the evidence it has gathered and agreed to write to CECA Scotland, and to invite Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, as former First Ministers, to give evidence at a future meeting.
Read the minutes of the meeting
08 May 2024
The Committee took evidence from Alex Salmond, former First Minister.
Read the Official Report of the Meeting
29 May 2024
The Committee took evidence from Nicola Sturgeon MSP, former First Minister.
The inquiry was discussed at the following Committee meetings:
We aim to make sure all documents are published as fully accessible pdfs. However, when documents are sent to us by an external organisation this is not always possible. If you need these documents provided in an alternative format, please contact the clerk of the committee. Further information can be found in our accessibility statement.
Transport Scotland have provided the following material to the Committee:
Context and Timeline document (294KB, pdf) posted 21 December 2023
A9 Dualling 2025 Delivery Strategy Update of May 2012 (448KB, pdf) posted 12 December 2023
A9 Dualling Ministerial Engagement Briefing 20 August 2014 (464KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Briefing for Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work 24 August 2017 (160KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Email Update for the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work 7 September 2017 (114KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Extract from the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015 Progress Report 19 April 2018 (130KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Advice Note for Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity 12 August 2018 (212KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Extract from briefing for Cabinet Secretary for TIC for appearance before REC Committee 18 March 2019 (194KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Updated extract from Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015 progress report 17 November 2021 (130KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
A9 Dualling Programme Discussion Paper for Ministers 23 December 2021 (232KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Extract from Post-Budget Committee Scrutiny 21 January 2022 (90KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
Proposed Next Steps Paper 7 December 2022 (141KB, pdf) posted 29 October 2024
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a summary of the documents received from Transport Scotland. Read the summary at the following link:
SPICe Summary of Evidence (246KB, pdf) posted 13 December 2023
The Committee's report 'Inquiry into the A9 Dualling Programme', was published on 1 November 2024. You can read the report using the following link:
Letter to former Ministers for Transport, 30 October 2023
Letter to Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, 30 October 2023