Recommendation 20

Notwithstanding the Board and Director level changes referenced above, HS2 Ltd also acknowledged that it needed to think about its capacity and capability throughout to deliver the task ahead. It told us it was going through that process and highlighted three areas it needed to address: more people to focus on railway systems; more skills to bear 33 HS2 6-monthly report to Parliament: November 2023 34 Qq 64–66 35 Q 61; Department for Transport: NETWORK NORTH: TRANSFORMING BRITISH TRANSPORT, CP 946, October 2023 (page 18) 36 Qq 70, 71 37 Q 61 38 Qq 114, 115 39 Q 119 HS2 and Euston 15 down on finances, getting the right information from the supply chain and whether it was on time, on schedule, and meeting quality standards; and more skills on managing and mitigating financial risk.40 On recruitment and retention, HS2 Ltd told us that there was a significant attraction for people to work on HS2”, but that it was a competitive recruitment market, particularly for good contract managers. Although HS2 has some flexibility in what pay it can offer, it told us that it was exposed to an overheated market and people would therefore leave, especially when being offered double or even triple their current salaries.41 Euston