Recommendation 11

HS2 Ltd told us that its cost estimate had been the result of much detailed analysis and many meetings, all done transparently with the Department. It told us that while Ministers had committed to an opening date between 2029 and 2033, HS2 Ltd was well within that range at the moment, and was aiming for 2030.24 The Department said that it had worked off the same data and been in the same meetings as HS2 Ltd when coming up with its own overlapping but lower forecast range of costs. But it said it had taken different views to HS2 Ltd on the extent to which risks could be mitigated. The Department accepted that it and HS2 Ltd would have to bottom out differences and reach an agreed range in the next stage of work.25 But even the Department’s lowest cost estimate is higher than the reset Phase 1 budget of £44.6 billion (2019 prices), so the Department is projecting to need more money than has been allocated and will need to agree funding for that with the Treasury.26