Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has been offered a payment from HS1 to renew its franchise.

HS1 Ltd has twice offered the Department financial payments and other incentives to extend its current Concession for a period of 10 years beyond the current end date of 2040. The Department concluded on both occasions that the proposals did not offer value for money to Government and the proposals were therefore rejected.