Recommendation 15

On recent development in governance in HS2 Ltd, the company told us it had streamlined executive governance to focus on costs and deliverables, and improved management information significantly, and that it had also recruited two further finance directors and established a new sub-committee for finance and performance. HS2 Ltd said it had significantly strengthened the Board with two recent appointments, and would be making two further non-executive director appointments with a particular focus on cost control. It also said it was also introducing a new ‘chief railway officer’ post from January 2024 to integrate all elements of the new railway. The chief railway officer would report directly to the new chief executive. The new chief executive has not been appointed yet, and HS2 Ltd told us the question of salary was still with Ministers to consider, but a job description and person specification had been agreed.32 31 Department for Transport: NETWORK NORTH: TRANSFORMING BRITISH TRANSPORT, CP 946, October 2023 32 Qq 6–11 14 HS2 and Euston 2 Closing down HS2 Phase 2 Impact of decision to cancel Phase 2