High Speed 2 Railway Line: Business

(asked on 20th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting a minimum threshold for the involvement of UK companies in the High Speed Two project.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 28th October 2020

The Department for Transport has not assessed the potential merits of setting a minimum threshold for the involvement of UK PLC in HS2. UK procurement law does not permit public sector bodies to set targets for goods and services based on country-specific locations. However, HS2 Ltd has an excellent track record of supporting British businesses; over 2,000 businesses have delivered work so far on HS2, of which 98% are UK-based, and 70% of which are SMEs.

The project already has 13,000 workers in the UK employed on it and the construction of Phase One will see HS2 create and sustain a further 22,000 jobs over the coming years, with many more in businesses and factories around the country through an estimated 400,000 supply chain contract opportunities. HS2 Ltd estimate that 95% of those contract opportunities will be won by UK based businesses, with around two thirds being SMEs.HS2 Ltd continues to undertake procurement activity in line with the established legal framework governed by the Utilities Contracts Regulations under which it operates.

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