Recommendation 1
DfT should: update its benefits realisation plans in light of the new scope and develop a shared vision with its wider stakeholders on what the programme will achieve; and
Source · National Audit Office
HS2: update following cancellation of Phase 2
Government must reset the HS2 programme successfully to avoid repeating past failures and to maximise value for money.
Published: 23 Jul 2024
Recommendations: 11
Type: Value for Money
NAO confirmed: 11
Department: Department for Transport
Recommendations
Recommendation 2
DfT, HS2 Ltd and HM Treasury should do the following as part of resetting the programme. DfT should: ? fully confirm the revised scope for the programme
Recommendation 3
DfT should: agree with HS2 Ltd a revised methodology for estimating the cost of the programme and use that estimate to set a revised funding envelope.
Recommendation 4
HS2 Ltd should: ? finish developing its lowest cost action plan, ensuring that a programme of work is established to implement it; and
Recommendation 5
HM Treasury should: ? as part of future spending reviews, agree revised financial controls with DfT and HS2 Ltd, including multi-year funding settlements for the programme to provide them with the longer-term certainty needed to plan activity, manage the supply chain and avoid higher costs; and
Recommendation 6
HM Treasury should: consider how to apply the recommendations we made in our 2023 report on how best to manage the budget for the HS2 programme to best protect value for money. These recommendations included consideration of: resetting HS2 budgets and costs in current prices; how inflation risk would be managed in the future; and revisiting financial controls that allow for flexibility in spend between years, and whether these need to be increased.
Recommendation 7
HS2 Ltd should: complete its organisational changes and monitor how well the changes are effectively supporting it to manage the revised programme.
Recommendation 8
At Euston, DfT should: ? develop a programme business case to help it and other stakeholders with decision-making across all projects within the larger Euston programme; and
Recommendation 9
At Euston, DfT should: ? while the long-term delivery and funding arrangements are being developed, make the time-critical decisions on progressing necessary works at Euston where not making them would create risks to value for money.
Recommendation 10
In disposing of the land and property it no longer needs for the programme, DfT should be transparent about its value-for-money framework and how it has been implemented. DfT should also, as part of developing its framework, identify appropriate opportunities where government could share in any future gains in values on the land and property it sells.
Recommendation 11
Outside of the programme, DfT should continue to assess HS2?s role in supporting the wider rail network to realise benefits and consider other options for improving capacity on the West Coast Main Line.
Public Accounts Committee follow-up
The Public Accounts Committee examined this NAO report and published its own recommendations. The government responds to PAC recommendations via Treasury Minutes.