Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to remove the safeguarding protections from land or properties covered by HS2 Phases 2A and 2B; whether they will offer any acquired properties or land back for sale to previous owners and, if so, at what price; and what steps they will take to remedy any HS2-related work that has already commenced on any such land or properties.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Phase 2a safeguarding will be formally lifted in weeks and Phase 2b safeguarding will be amended by the summer of next year, to allow for any safeguarding needed for Northern Powerhouse Rail. In the meantime, we will take steps to begin to lift the blighting effect of HS2 in areas where safeguarding is going to be lifted.
Where any land or property has been acquired compulsorily or via statutory blight and is no longer required, it will be sold subject to the Crichel Down Rules. These require government departments, under certain circumstances, to offer back surplus land to the former owner or the former owner’s successors at the current market value. All land and property will be assessed prior to disposal.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government who were the accounting officers responsible for HS2 at (1) the Department for Transport, and (2) HS2 Ltd, for the period from 1 January 2009 to the present.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Accounting Officers at the Department for Transport and Chief Executives at HS2 Ltd from 1 January 2009 to the present are as follows:
HS2 Ltd
DfT
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of whether service operators of vessels at UK ports should be able to deny boarding to any person representing a potential or actual business competitor of that operator.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Service operators decide the conditions on which their services are provided. Operators including general passenger vessels are subject to relevant consumer and anti-discrimination law, which their terms of business should comply with.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what legal process they plan to follow to cancel HS2 Phase 2A; whether they plan to introduce legislation to repeal the High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Act 2021; and what Phase 2A’s cancellation means for the undertakings and assurances given during the passage of the High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department will ensure that the process to ensure the orderly and safe cessation of activities on Phase 2a is regular and proper as set out in the Permanent Secretary’s Accounting Officer Assessment. There are no immediate plans to introduce legislation to repeal the High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Act 2021. The Department and HS2 Ltd will review all Undertakings and Assurances given and will consider what steps, if any, are required to manage them on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they provide concerning the criteria for approval of major infrastructure projects, in particular on the economic benefit to cost ratio; what advice they received from the consultancy OXERA concerning the projected benefit cost ration for HS2; what action they took in response to that advice; and what changes they required HS2 Ltd to make in order to improve this benefit to cost ratio.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
All major infrastructure projects are required to follow the HMT five-case model as outlined in the business case guidance for projects and programmes. The Department for Transport uses a Value for Money Framework to inform its investment decisions.
The Oakervee Review of HS2 commissioned Oxera to carry out sensitivity analysis on the business case for HS2. The outcome of the Oxera analysis is set out in the published Oakervee Review.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government why advice from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority that "The project (HS2) will remain fundamentally flawed unless transparency and frankness is provided to the true level of uncertainty and confidence variations of time, cost and benefits", as reported in the Sunday Times on 22 October, was not provided to Parliament before it approved authorisation for Phase 1 of HS2
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 11 February 2020, the then Prime Minister announced that the Government intended to proceed with HS2. This decision was made having considered the conclusions of the Independent Review of HS2, led by Douglas Oakervee, and an accounting officer assessment that demonstrated the ongoing compliance of the programme with HM Treasury managing public money guidance. This assessment followed four previous assessments undertaken at regular intervals in 2019.
Since the HS2 Phase 1 Notice-to-Proceed decision, comprehensive governance arrangements have been put in place to increase Ministerial oversight, transparency, and accountability of the HS2 project. Since October 2020, the Department has published six-monthly reports to Parliament, while the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s Annual Report includes assessments on HS2. HS2 Ltd is held to account in several ways, including through a monthly Sponsor Board meeting that oversees the company’s performance and reviews the latest Management Information. HS2 Ltd’s Board was also strengthened with new Non-Executive Directors, including a representative from the Department for Transport.
The National Audit Office has published multiple reports examining the delivery of HS2, and the programme is scrutinised by Parliament on a regular basis.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to simplify the licensing regime for mopeds, motorcycles and other forms of powered light vehicle (PLV) within the current parliament.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no current plans to make changes to the driver licensing regime for these vehicles.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what changes they plan to make to the management and governance of HS2 Ltd following comments about the company by the Prime Minister regarding management in respect of HS2 Phase 1 in general and, in particular, the Old Oak Common to Euston section.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State has met with the HS2 Ltd Board to hold it to account on its plan to deliver HS2 from London Euston to Birmingham to cost and schedule, and will continue to do so. The Department is now in discussion with HM Treasury on strengthening the governance of the programme and reinforcing the leadership of HS2 Ltd, under Sir Jon Thompson.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are their plans for continuing the HS2 Phase 1 line from Old Oak Common to Euston, including how many new platforms are planned for Euston; what role Network Rail will play in the overall station planning, track and train timetables design; what is the latest estimated cost of the tunnel and station works from Old Oak Common to Euston; and how this will be financed.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in Network North, the Government remains committed to delivering HS2 between Birmingham and Euston in central London as planned. The station will comprise 6-platforms that can accommodate the trains we will run to Birmingham and onwards.
No decisions have been made on the train service that will run when HS2 opens from Euston. These will be made in due course, taking advice from West Coast Partnership Development, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail, and will be subject to consultation.
The scope and cost estimates for this section of the route are subject to review following the announcement. As set out in Network North, we will appoint a development company to manage the delivery of the station and will harness the future growth that the station will unleash to support its development, to ensure we get the best possible value for the British taxpayer and ensure that funding is underpinned by contributions from those people and businesses its development supports.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the cancellation of Phase 2 of HS2, how many HS2 trains will be able to operate from London Euston per hour, and what their destinations will be.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
No decisions have been made on the train service that will run when HS2 opens from Euston. These will be made in due course, taking advice from West Coast Partnership Development, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail, and will be subject to consultation.