High Speed 2 Railway Line: Coronavirus

(asked on 20th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) assurances were sought and (b) undertakings were obtained from each of the companies and consortia given notice to proceed on HS2 construction on 15 April 2020 that their financial position was not at risk as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 27th April 2020

The contracting organisations associated with the notice to proceed instruction given by HS2 Ltd are formed of joint ventures. All of the Joint Ventures that have received a Notice to Proceed are joint and severally liable for their contractual requirements and therefore provide mitigation to any financial risk that materialises. Each contracting company was also required to provide a Parent Company Guarantee from a parent of sufficient financial standing.

Both the contracting companies and Parent Companies have had their financial standing tested and scrutinised during both procurement and then again at the point of award for their contracts. Since the point of award HS2 Ltd have continuously monitored financial indicators.

In the run up to notice to proceed, at which point the Covid-19 outbreak materially impacted operations, the contracting structures negotiated with the joint venture organisations were moderated to recognise the event.

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