Delays to A9 dualling: EIR release

Information requested

The Transport Secretary told MSPs in the Scottish Parliament that the dualling of this road was unachievable by 2025 and said the delay was due to the Pandemic, Brexit and the Ukraine situation. To that end I would be grateful if you could provide me with the following information:

1. Scottish Government to provide evidence that the delay has been caused by the Pandemic?

2. Scottish Government to provide evidence that the delay has been caused by Brexit?

3. Scottish Government to provide evidence that the delay has been caused by the Ukraine situation?

Response

Thank you for your email dated 10 February 2023. As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.

We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Please note that the description of the Minister’s statement above does not accurately reflect the content of the Minister’s statement to Parliament on 8 February 2023. Relevant sections of in the statement are:

In relation to the period during which the Tomatin to Moy procurement took place (August 2021 to October 2022):

Official Record Ref: SP OR 8 February 2023 col 25
“That coincided with external factors including the pandemic, disruption caused by Brexit, and the war in Ukraine. The inflationary impacts of all of those factors impacted significantly on the construction market.”

In relation to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delivery of the overall A9 Dualling programme:

Official Record Ref: SP OR 8 February 2023 col 26
“Although good progress has been made in securing the statutory consents, as for many other construction projects across the world, progress has been significantly disrupted by the pandemic.”

In relation to a range of factors influencing the target date that had been set for completion of the A9 Dualling Programme:

Official Record Ref: SP OR 8 February 2023 col 26
“It was also reliant on the timely and positive outcome of a range of factors such as the completion of public and stakeholder consultation, statutory approval processes, market capacity, supply chain availability and the availability of funding, all of which have been significantly impacted by the events that I outlined earlier.”

Scottish Government to provide evidence that the delay has been caused by the Pandemic?

Two primary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the A9 Dualling programme are through its impacts on inflationary pressures and the need to redeploy resources to combat the impact of the pandemic. Evidence of the impact of the pandemic is available to the public, for example in the analytical report in the following link: The Cost of Living Crisis in Scotland: analytical report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

As a consequence of the inflationary pressures it has been necessary to assess the impact of market changes on the available procurement options, causing a delay to the process of determining the most efficient options for delivery of the remaining elements of the A9 Dualling programme.

As a consequence of the need to redeploy resources to combat the impact of the pandemic a range of activities were delayed, for example the statutory process for the Killiecrankie to Glen Garry scheme, where the Public Local Inquiry Report was significantly delayed.

Scottish Government to provide evidence that the delay has been caused by Brexit?

The primary impact of Brexit on the A9 Dualling programme is through its impacts on inflationary pressures. Evidence of the impact of the Brexit is available to the public, for example in the analytical report in the following link: The Cost of Living Crisis in Scotland: analytical report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

As a consequence of these inflationary pressures it has been necessary to assess the impact of market changes on the available procurement options, causing a delay to the process of determining the most efficient options for delivery of the remaining elements of the A9 Dualling programme.

Scottish Government to provide evidence that the delay has been caused by the Ukraine situation?

The primary impact of the war in Ukraine on the A9 Dualling programme is through its impacts on inflationary pressures. Evidence of the impact of the war in Ukraine is available to the public, for example in the analytical report in the following link: The Cost of Living Crisis in Scotland: analytical report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

As a consequence of these inflationary pressures it has been necessary to assess the impact of market changes on the available procurement options, causing a delay to the process of determining the most efficient options for delivery of the remaining elements of the A9 Dualling programme.

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. We have applied this regulation to the document at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/cost-living-crisis-scotland-analyticalreport/

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.