Fury as HS2 boasts spending tens of millions on diversity

HS2 has been slammed for "concentrating on vanity projects" after spending a whopping £61 million on diverse suppliers. A report on equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) said tens of millions of pounds were spent on resources from "diverse-owned suppliers". Diversity officers also explained how they exceeded ethnic minority employment targets and participated in mental health and racial equality awareness projects.

Joanna Davinson, the HS2 board member responsible for diversity, wrote that EDI "shapes how we think, lead and build the railway". In the last financial year, £61 million was spent on diverse-owned suppliers - an increase of more than a third from the £44 million last year. This mainly involved businesses owned of majority-controlled by women and ethnic minorities."

The report states: "We define minority-owned businesses as those where women, ethnic minorities, LGBT or disabled people make up more than 50% of the partners or directors in day-to-day control of the business, or where a sole proprietor is from one of these groups.

"EDI is embedded throughout the complex HS2 supply chain as a means of ensuring safe and inclusive sites and offices."

Shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew accused HS2 of bragging about "HR schemes and vanity projects", urging it instead to "concentrate on cutting costs".

He said: "HS2 should be concentrating on cutting costs and delivering track on time, not HR schemes and vanity projects. Taxpayers want to know when this railway will be delivered, and at what price.

"Instead, HS2 is boasting about diversity initiatives that have nothing to do with trains being delivered.

"With a budget already under huge pressure, every penny must go on delivery and best value. That means hiring the best talent available and focusing resources on building the railway the country needs."

A National Audit Office report estimated that completing the full HS2 network will cost between £72 billion and £98 billion at 2019 prices.

The initial budget in 2010 was £30 billion, which then rose to £33 billion and later to £55.7 billion in 2015.

A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: "We take our statutory commitments under the Equality Act seriously and set high standards for the thousands of businesses actively engaged in our supply chain.

"Through fair and inclusive recruitment practices, we are proud to have built a 33,000-strong workforce where female and ethnic minority representation exceeds industry averages.

"Our investment in future talent has created over 1,800 apprenticeships and over 5,000 unemployed people have received training and support to help them into work on Britain's new railway.

"Across our 350 construction sites, we strive to ensure everyone is able to work in a safe, supportive and inclusive workplace where they can always be themselves."