Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on social distancing for High Speed Two construction workers.

The Department has advised its agencies including HS2 Ltd to follow the Government’s policy in relation to COVID-19. That is that construction workers can continue to travel to work on sites so long they are able to follow the Public Health England guidance and industry best practice on social distancing. It is for HS2 Ltd and its contractors to determine whether it is appropriate to continue work or not according to conditions on each site.

On 25^th March HS2 Ltd paused the works on most of their construction sites to ensure operations could continue in-line with this guidance. Since then a majority of sites have re-opened with currently 71% of sites now back operating.