Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2020 to Question 6592, on High Speed 2 Railway Line, whether Ministers in his Department authorised the award of those contracts to deliver work on High Speed Two.

The Department has granted delegated authority to HS2 Ltd to undertake their own procurement activity, which is set out under the terms of the Development Agreement between HS2 Ltd and the Department. Where this level of delegation may be exceeded on specific contract approvals, then this is progressed through the Department’s internal Governance arrangements.