Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in each grade employed by (a) HS2 Ltd and (b) his Department are working on High Speed (i) 2 and (ii) 3; and what the average salary of each of those grades is.

With regards to part A of the question, in the interests of transparency, HS2 Ltd publishes information on staff salaries on data.gov.uk. More specific information is in the attached table 1.

HS2 Ltd senior salaries are commensurate with the current focus of the company, which is building the organisation in preparation for construction. HS2 Ltd must pay salaries that are sufficient to attract people with the skills and expertise to deliver the biggest infrastructure project in Europe.

With regards to part B of the question, the High Speed Rail headcount for permanent full time equivalents (FTEs) currently in post across the Central Department is shown in the attached table 2.

The salaries shown are average DfT Central salaries.

It is not possible to provide separate figures for staff working on HS2 and HS3.