Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of settlement agreements entered into by HS2 Ltd with former staff included non-disclosure provisions.

As of the end of August, a total of 48 former staff have signed Settlement Agreements with HS2 Ltd.

The Settlement Agreements that have been signed all contain mutual confidentiality obligations which protect personal information such as what monies are owed. These obligations do not apply where information is required to be disclosed by law or where a protected disclosure is made by the employee under whistleblowing legislation. It should be noted that no former employee of HS2 Ltd has raised any such protected disclosure.

Before any Settlement Agreement is signed by HS2 Ltd and the employee, a certificate from an independent legal adviser must be provided, evidencing that legal advice has been given to the employee as to the effect of the terms of the Agreement. This process can lead to requests for changes to the template Agreement, which HS2 Ltd accepts where feasible.

As noted in the response to PQ 281612 and PQ 281613, HS2 Ltd has not entered into any Non-Disclosure Agreements with any HS2 employee.