Speeches by Turner.

“I draw attention to my membership of the GMB and Unite trade unions, and I welcome and acknowledge the Minister’s firm commitment to this area. The Department recently published its response to the trade union right of access consultation. Capping fines at £500,000 equates to a potential liability of 0.02% of operating…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. In Birmingham Northfield and across the country, there are many reports of inappropriate houses in multiple occupation that prove actually to be poor-quality supported exempt accommodation. At its best, SEA can provide a valuable service, but at its worst it can be a byword for neglect,…”

“6. What progress his Department has made on implementing the Employment Rights Act 2025.”

“My understanding is that best practice on other projects, such as Hinkley Point C, is that the sponsoring body—in this case, that would be HS2 Ltd—does conduct regular audits of compliance with those national agreements among the prime contractors and subcontractors. At Hinkley Point, I believe that takes place every s…”

“I think some of my constituents will find it remarkable that we are talking about two years for a feasibility study—not an investment decision, but a study—and at the end of it, we might not even get a new relief line. Are you balancing the well-known problems of trying to upgrade the west coast main line? If we think …”

“On value for money, I am not sure where the additional cost would come from—if I may gently challenge you on that point. I put it to you that, had there been the commitment to ensure that the national agreements were followed across subcontractors as well as the main contractors, some of the well-advertised problems wi…”

“We have heard—and I have heard privately—from people who have been engaged on the project that one reason for the high vacancy and turnover rates was culture. People felt that they were prevented from, or could not, escalate and report problems. Do you accept that characterisation?”

“Is the most recent set of estimates, which was announced yesterday, an example of the kind of decision that went to the taskforce? Are DFT and HMT aligned on that range of estimates?”

“I want to take us back to contracts and oversight. When you appeared before the Committee in July last year, Mr Wild, you said that there was a fallback if negotiations could not be concluded. You said, “In areas where we have a little bit more flexibility to reallocate work we will do that, but for the majority we wil…”

“To follow up on trying to quantify uncertainty, there have been various attempts in the past to put a P number—either P50 or P95—on those estimates. For that future spend, within those ranges announced yesterday, is there a P number attached, and can that be shared?”

“Bus?”

“I want to take us back to the west coast main line north of Birmingham. The Secretary of State said yesterday: “We will conduct a further feasibility study on connectivity north of Birmingham. That will consider all options”. What is the timeline for the feasibility study? Has it started? When can we expect to see it, …”

“This is a topic we will probably return to. The Secretary of State did talk about “a new connection between Birmingham and Manchester” in the House yesterday, but I am conscious of time, so I will move on to industrial relations. Last year, we spoke about the initial framework agreement from 2016. The clue was in the n…”

“You are looking at the moment at contract variations on those main works civils contracts. I accept that some of those contracts are more advanced in terms of completion than others, but is variation to enshrine those commitments in the contracts within the scope of those discussions?”

“That is helpful; thank you.”

“Finally from me in this section, one of the weaknesses highlighted in the Lovegrove report was that, in the past, there was a lack of an effective shareholder voice on the board—or, to put it in different language, no taxpayer voice was being represented in those discussions. Is there a more assertive approach now from…”

“I think I am right in saying that, before the general election, the ministerial taskforce met only four times in three years. What is the frequency of meetings now, and what tangibly comes out of them?”

“Mr Wild, you have been in post now for a year and a half. How has the relationship between HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport, on the one hand, and the Treasury, on the other, changed during that time?”

“Finally, on transparency, HS2 Ltd only had a limited audit opinion for the 2024-25 accounts. At the October meeting of the audit and risk assurance committee, to quote: “Members discussed the objective to create an improvement plan to enable HS2 to achieve a Moderate audit opinion by April 2026.” Was that achieved?”

“Thank you; I appreciate that. Chair, I should have declared my membership of the GMB and Unite trade unions at the start of that discussion.”