Written question asked by Cheryl Gillan (Conservative) on Thursday, 15 October 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 20 October 2020 (named day). It was answered by Andrew Stephenson (Conservative) on Tuesday, 20 October 2020 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

High Speed Two: Disclosure of Information

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many non-disclosure agreements have been entered into by HS2 Ltd; and if he will list the parties to those agreements.

Original answer: Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are used to protect both HS2 Ltd’s information and the information of the other signatory party and are in accordance with typical business practice. These agreements help to avoid placing homes and businesses in unnecessary blight, protect commercially sensitive information of both parties and the personal information of those potentially affected by any proposed changes to the scheme. HS2 Ltd’s Register shows 342 such agreements have been put in place. As this number changes on a frequent basis as the project develops and new agreements are added to the Register we do not intend to publish a list of the parties at the present time.

The answer was corrected by Andrew Stephenson (Conservative)

on Monday, 30 November 2020 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Corrected answer: Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are used to protect both HS2 Ltd’s information and the information of the other signatory party and are in accordance with typical business practice. These agreements help to avoid placing homes and businesses in unnecessary blight, protect commercially sensitive information of both parties and the personal information of those potentially affected by any proposed changes to the scheme. HS2 Ltd’s Register shows ~~342~~ 339 such agreements have been put in place. As this number changes on a frequent basis as the project develops and new agreements are added to the Register we do not intend to publish a list of the parties at the present time.

Secondary information