Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the payment of £11,864,405.23 on 11 September 2019 made by HS2 Ltd to Balfour Beatty for Main Works Civils Contractor Stage One TP included a 20 per cent contingency.

Payments are made to contracting entities working on the HS2 project in accordance with the terms of their contracts. As with all commercial relationships, it would not be appropriate to expand on individual transactions as this would prejudice commercial interests. The House will be regularly updated on the costs of HS2 following the Government’s decision and published Oakervee Review.