Value for Money chairman barred from dealing with HS2’s £67bn bill

David Goldstone sits on board of rail project with spiralling costs

The chairman of the new Office for Value for Money has been barred from scrutinising the £67 billion bill for HS2 because he sits on the company board, it has emerged.
David Goldstone was unveiled as the head of the quango in the Budget on Wednesday when Rachel Reeves said his job would be to “help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending”.
However, Mr Goldstone is blocked from looking at the expenditure on the major rail infrastructure project HS2 because he sits as a non-executive director on the board.
It is likely to raise questions about his appointment to the new position because HS2 is among the infrastructure projects with the most significant overspending in recent years.
The company in charge of the project, HS2 Ltd, has estimated that the total cost of the project will reach up to £67 billion.
Its spiralling costs led to Rishi Sunak axing the second leg of the project from Birmingham to Manchester in October last year.
He told the Conservative Party conference as he announced its cancellation that it was a scheme “whose costs have more than doubled” and “for which the economic case has massively weakened”.
It comes after it emerged that Mr Goldstone will be paid £950 a day for an average commitment of one day a week for the role, totalling almost £50,000 a year.
A Tory spokesman said of the appointment: “What is the value of Labour’s new head of the Office for Value for Money if he can’t oversee all government projects because of a conflict of interest?
“If Labour were really interested in delivering value for money they would have picked someone who was fit to serve at value for money for the taxpayer.”
The Prime Minister’s deputy spokesman said that Mr Goldstone was a “highly experienced public sector leader” with a “track record on working on complex high-value programmes”.
In a section of HM Treasury guidance on Mr Goldstone’s appointment entitled “conflicts of interest”, it said: “David will remove himself from the discussion or determination of matters in which he has a financial interest.
“In matters in which he has a non-financial interest, he will not participate in the discussion or determination of a matter as chair where the interest might suggest a danger of bias.
“This includes not participating as chair in discussions or determinations relevant to issues related to his other roles, such as his role as HM Treasury’s nominee member for the HS2 Board, and his role as non-executive director of the Submarine Delivery Authority.”
Mr Goldstone has also served as an executive on the London 2012 Olympics and Parliament’s restoration and renewal project, both of which overspent.
Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, announced last month that spending on HS2 would be reviewed as the Government took measures to “get a grip”.
The Chancellor also announced in the Budget that HS2 would terminate at London Euston, instead of Old Oak Common as set out under the previous government.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.