Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the HS2 Phase One main works contractor for the section of the line past Wendover has produced any assessment of the Wendover Mined Tunnel Proposal; and if so, whether they will place a copy of any such assessment in the Library of the House.

The Wendover Mined Tunnel Proposal was assessed by HS2 Ltd and by independent consultants as being harder and more expensive to construct than the consented scheme. A decision was taken in 2018 to not divert Eiffage Kier (EK) resources to additionally assess the proposal, and this decision was communicated to the constituency MP and local councillors at the time.

Since then, EK (now EKFB) contractors have been involved in providing advice to the Department in relation to its ongoing scrutiny of the proposal as it has developed. In any event, the Department does not release detailed breakdowns of our commercial information nor information provided in confidence from our suppliers and subcontractors.