Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 13 October (HL2001), which parts of the Data Protection Act 1998 prevent them from providing a list of persons on HS2’s Conflict of Interest Panel; on what dates the Panel have met in the last three years; and how many cases have come before the Panel at each meeting.

The release of the names and remuneration of HS2’s Conflict of Interest Managers is governed by the Data Protection Act. The release of such information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore cannot be disclosed. The Conflicts of Interest Panel comprises six senior representatives from HS2 Ltd’s HR, Finance, Procurement, Commercial and Legal (General Counsel) teams plus two representatives from the Compliance team.

Since the establishment of the Conflict of Interest Panel in October 2015, meetings have been scheduled fortnightly and are held unless there are no conflicts for the Panel to consider. Prior to October 2015, meetings were held on an ‘as and when’ basis when required – such meetings commenced in July 2013. As of the start of October 2016 the Panel has reviewed 217 cases of potential conflict of interest.

In addition, where urgent views are required from the Panel that cannot wait until the next fortnightly meeting is held, the Panel members will provide their inputs by email correspondence.