Karen Lumley
Main Page: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)Department Debates - View all Karen Lumley's debates with the Department for Transport
(11 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr McLoughlin
When I was told about this incident and the mistakes that were made, I ordered two immediate inquiries. I wanted to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible, and that is what I have done. I am sure that we will not be short of a number of inquiries, which will take place subsequent to the Laidlaw and Richard Brown inquiries. I expect that the Public Accounts Committee will want to look at the issue.
Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con)
10. What recent assessment he has made of the potential benefits of High Speed 2 to businesses in Birmingham and its surrounding areas.
The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin)
HS2 will transform journey times, capacity and connectivity between the Birmingham stations and Leeds, Manchester and London, and will release substantial capacity on the existing rail network. This will help the wider west midlands area to fulfil its economic potential.
Karen Lumley
Will my right hon. Friend tell the House how many jobs will be involved in the construction and operation of the first phase of the railway to the midlands?
Mr McLoughlin
A number of opportunities will become available as a result of HS2. We expect there to be 9,000 jobs during construction and 1,500 permanent operational jobs, as well as a huge amount of regeneration in the areas served by HS2.