Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Sixty-Third Report - HS2 Euston
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1004
Published 7 July 2023
Recommendations
15
Deferred
Local communities impacted by HS2 pause, seeking transparency and input on interim solutions.
Recommendation
We heard concerns from the London Borough of Camden and Drummond Street Traders, who already face many years of disruption, and impact of the pause in construction on local residents and businesses and be absolutely transparent when it is possible …
Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to address concerns and be transparent, and has commenced the Euston Reset Programme to develop an affordable and deliverable Euston campus by April 2025, deferring transparency on the revised timetable until after this programme.
HM Treasury
View Details →
Conclusions (4)
1
Conclusion
Deferred
Why the existing report was late and contained so little information
Government Response Summary
The government deflected from explaining why the past report was late and lacked information, instead detailing the future Euston Reset Programme's ambition to confirm an affordable and deliverable scheme by April 2025.
9
Conclusion
Deferred
In April 2020, as part of the overall Phase One budget of £44.6 billion set by the Department, HS2 Ltd planned to design and build the HS2 Euston station for £2.6 billion. This budget was lower than its £3 billion assessment of what the station would actually cost to build.16 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation and has launched the Euston Reset Programme, aiming to ensure an affordable HS2 station design and establish a realistic budget range and new delivery date in due course, with a target implementation date of Summer 2025.
16
Conclusion
Deferred
The Department is having to manage significant inflationary cost pressures across its spending on major infrastructure projects, particularly from higher costs of construction materials.37 For example when we examined progress on the HS2 programme in May 2022, HS2 Ltd told us that it was seeing ‘30% to 40% swings in …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation and states that while departments must absorb inflation, they are discussing with HM Treasury how to manage future HS2 cost pressures to protect value for money, and will report back in six months.
17
Conclusion
Deferred
The Department told us that, although budgets are now set, it continues to have discussions with HM Treasury about how it manages inflation on programmes like HS2 in order to deal with any issues that may arise later in the year. The Department also acknowledged the value for money implications …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation and states that while departments must absorb inflation, they are discussing with HM Treasury how to manage future HS2 cost pressures to protect value for money, and will report back in six months.