Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to speed up the delivery of High Speed Two.

Following the award of Notice-to-Proceed and the start of main works construction on Phase One, my Department is continuing to work hard to identify opportunities for HS2 to meet the ambition of the Government’s ‘Project Speed’ agenda and being forward its delivery.

To support this aim I held a constructive meeting with the four Joint Ventures responsible for delivering the Main Works Civils on Phase One to gather ideas and feedback from the industry on how to accelerate works across High Speed 2.

As recommended by the Oakervee Review, my Department is also undertaking a study to consider the efficiency of Euston station.

The Oakervee review also concluded, following experience on Phase One, that having smaller Bills/phases may be better for allowing the easier scrutiny of proposals in Parliament and therefore faster construction of the project. I intend to present legislation for the route into Manchester for deposit in Parliament by early 2022.

The department is to develop an integrated plan for rail investment to make sure we are bringing benefits to the North and Midlands as quickly and efficiently as we possibly can.