Mike Kane

I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) on securing this debate, on standing up so resolutely for civil society institutions in his constituency and on speaking so eloquently about them. High inflation, the pandemic, protester action, planning appeals, judicial reviews and lower productivity than expected have had a significant impact on the cost of phase 1 of HS2. The Government have been clear that we are committed to getting a grip on the spiralling costs. As part of that work, the Secretary of State for Transport has published the first HS2 report to Parliament under the new Government, setting out some of the immediate actions and interventions that we will take to regain control of HS2’s costs and bring the project back on track. For instance, Ministers have tasked the new chief executive officer of HS2 Ltd, Mark Wild, with producing an action plan to reset the programme and deliver the remaining work as cost-effectively as possible. We have also reinstated ministerial oversight of the project through a ministerial taskforce to ensure transparency and accountability. My Department will update Parliament as the important work of resetting the programme and reinstating oversight progresses.