Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost is of the (a) policing of and (b) damage and delays to the works caused by the environmental protests along the route of Phase 1 of HS2 to date.

The costs for construction sites to operate safely, including, where necessary, the safe removal of trespassers, form part of existing contracts between HS2 Ltd and its supply chain. Due to the levels of protestor activity experienced, an additional £49 million of security costs across the HS2 project has been expended up to December 2020. The impact to the schedule of trespassers and in some cases concerted vandalism has not yet been fully assessed but we expect this to be within the overall estimated cost range of the project.