Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of High Speed Two on levels of economic activity in (a) the North of England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and c) Haltemprice and Howden constituency.

HS2 will offer faster, more frequent and more reliable travel between cities and areas of the UK and will increase capacity on our congested railways. The eastern leg of Phase Two of HS2 will connect Yorkshire to the West and East Midlands, and Transport for the North is exploring options to make use of the HS2 line for faster services between Leeds, York and Newcastle, improving links between regions that are home to around 11 million people.

HS2 will increase the number of skilled workers that businesses based in Yorkshire can access. It will allow businesses to collaborate with supply chains and research and development partners, draw on a deeper pool of skills, access new sources of finance and support networks and secure new customers in regions across Britain.

Yorkshire’s thriving digital and technology sector stands to benefit from this improved access to investors and support networks, ranging from firms specialising in health technology, Big Data and FinTech in Leeds to businesses in Sheffield and Rotherham with expertise in data management and analytics and in telecommunications.

The WYCA and Leeds City Region LEP are developing a HS2 Connectivity Strategy that sets out how to support additional jobs that are forecast to be created across the city region, with 25,000 of these located in Leeds City Centre. Passengers from Hull will have access to conventional services to Leeds, which will allow onward connections using HS2 services to Birmingham and London.