Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many email documents were created falsely to attempt to show communications on the HS2 Ltd redundancy scheme with his Department; and who was responsible for those documents.

We are aware of the one email created by an official at HS2 Ltd that, had it been sent when it was purported to have been sent, would have shown earlier communication of the full extent of the redundancy scheme to the Department for Transport. Interrogation of IT serves has demonstrated that this email was not sent.

In addition, we are aware of two presentations, one dated 29 January 2016 and one dated August 2016 that were provided to the National Audit Office and the Department for Transport. Both presentations appear to have been altered between 2016 & 2017 to insert an additional slide that did not appear in the original versions, illustrating enhanced redundancy terms.

Further details of these documents can be found in paragraphs 23, 24, 25 and 31 of the Government Internal Audit Agency Report published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-internal-audit-agency-report-into-hs2-ltd-redundancy-schemes