Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government who are the members of the HS2 land and property acquisition programme review, announced in May; what are the review's terms of reference; and whether external independent inputs will be taken into account as part of the review.

The review commissioned by the Minister for HS2, Andrew Stephenson MP, in May is being undertaken by officials in the Department for Transport supported by their counterparts in High Speed Two Limited. A single external consultant has also provided support to the review.

The terms of reference were intentionally wide-ranging, and required the review team to examine HS2 Ltd’s land and property acquisition processes and, where the evidence demonstrates it, associated wider-government policies.

The review team has considered evidence from numerous independent external sources, both written and through stakeholder interviews. Discussions with practitioners in the land and property field possessing direct personal knowledge of HS2 transactions were a particular source of insight for the review.