10th Report - High Speed 2 Annual Report and Accounts
- HC No.
- HC 454
- Published
- 15 Dec 2017
- Items
- 0
- Response
- No response document linked
Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee
High Speed 2 Limited Annual Report and Accounts inquiry
Status: Closed
Opened: 19 Oct 2017
Closed: 19 Oct 2017
1 report
Inquiry scope
High Speed 2 Ltd (HS2) is a company owned by the Government that is tasked with delivering a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, Manchester, and potentially beyond. The National Audit Office (NAO) published its audit of HS2's 2016–17 accounts in July. It found that HS2 was making large redundancy pay-outs totally £2.76 million, of which £1.76 million were not appropriately authorised. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) subsequently qualified the accounts. As a result of the decision to move its headquarters to Birmingham, HS2 needed to make redundancies, and received written advice from the Department of Transport that these should be at levels comparable to market conditions in the rail sector. HS2 asked DfT to allow enhanced redundancy terms but approval was not granted; however enhanced payments were still made. The NAO has not seen evidence that either DfT or HM Treasury approved these payments. The Public Accounts Committee will ask officials from HS2 Ltd and the Department of Transport about the financial health of HS2 Ltd, about why large redundancy payments were made without the appropriate permissions, and what HS2 Ltd will do to satisfy the C&AG's qualification on their audited accounts.Reports
Oral evidence sessions
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| Date | Session and witnesses | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Oct 2017 | No witnesses recorded | View ↗ |
Correspondence
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| Published | Direction | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun 2019 | — | Correspondence with the Department for Transport, regarding a follow up from 15 May session on HS2, dated 30 May 2019 |
| 3 Jan 2018 | — | Correspondence with Department for Transport |
| 3 Nov 2017 | — | Correspondence with Department for Transport relating to High Speed 2 Ltd.’s Annual Report and Accounts |