One potential source of additional funding to help manage higher costs from inflation and also higher costs at Euston is the government-held £4.3 billion contingency. This was set by the Department in 2020 as part of the £44.6 billion budget for the whole of Phase One.42 The Department told us that it had no expectation on what this contingency would have been needed for when it was established. However, it is also unclear on what it could be used for, with the Department acknowledging that i...

One potential source of additional funding to help manage higher costs from inflation and also higher costs at Euston is the government-held £4.3 billion contingency. This was set by the Department in 2020 as part of the £44.6 billion budget for the whole of Phase One.42 The Department told us that it had no expectation on what this contingency would have been needed for when it was established. However, it is also unclear on what it could be used for, with the Department acknowledging that it had ‘never reached any formal view or agreement on what basis the contingency would be drawn down on’.43 Reporting to Parliament Type: conclusion | Number: 18 | Response status: accepted Government response: 4.6 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: January 2024 4.7 The Development Agreement established between the department and HS2 Ltd outlines the principles for accessing the government-held contingency on HS2. Before accessing government-held