Economic Advisory Panel HS2 Ltd

Tender description

The Economic Advisory Panel was previously established in 2012 to assist HS2 Ltd in scoping and designing a programme of work to deliver robust and credible analysis on the potential impact of HS2 on the economy, particularly at a sub-national or regional level. The methodology used to assess the economic case for HS2 focuses on appraisal at the national level, in line with WebTAG guidance, and is therefore limited in terms of detailed analysis of sub-national economic impacts of the scheme. In addition, economic impacts, such as employment and regeneration effects, may extend beyond the benefits quantified within the economic case. To address this issue HS2 Ltd have been developing new analysis to identify and estimate the expected sub-national economic impacts of HS2. At present there is no widely accepted methodology to fully capture the sub-national economic impacts of high speed rail projects. Given the lack of a widely accepted methodology, and the importance of producing robust and credible analysis, in 2012 we engaged a small group of experts to help shape our methodological approach and develop an analytical work plan. This contract expired during 2014. We would like to award a similar contract and reconvene the panel, since the group’s work is still of key importance to this programme.