Up to 29 individuals are known to have applied to become the chair of HS2 Ltd, a freedom of information request to the Department for Transport has revealed.
Of those 29 applicants, five had their applications taken forward to be considered for the role, which has been vacant since July 2021.
Former chair Allan Cook announced that he was quitting the role in February last year, having guided the project since December 2018.
It had been speculated that ministers might scrap the role of chair for the £100bn project, which comes with a £200,000 salary for three days’ work per week.
Last month a senior figure at HS2 Ltd told CN sister title NCE that the delay in appointing a chair was caused by the DfT delaying the publication of its long-anticipated Integrated Rail Plan. The thinking was that the DfT did not want to appoint a chair before setting out its future plans for HS2.
In its response to the FoI request, a DfT spokesperson said: “The Department for Transport received a total of 29 applications for the role of chair for HS2 Ltd. A total of five applicants have since been interviewed by an advisory assessment panel.
“All interviewed applicants are being considered by ministers, in line with the process set out in the Governance Code for Public Appointments.”
HS2 Ltd’s latest publicly available board minutes also suggest that an appointment is getting closer. In the minutes – from December – the board discussed the “appointment of the permanent chair and the timing to do so”.
A job-specification document, seen by CN, describes the role as “challenging and unique”.
Written on paper headed with the logos of the DfT and executive-search agency Korn Ferry, the document adds that the successful candidate would need to be “politically astute”; capable of leading a board; someone who could “grip major programmes”; and act as an “effective advocate for the strategic case for HS2”.
HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Thurston is officially the UK’s highest-paid civil servant with an annual salary of between £620,000 and £624,999. However, it is Network Rail that dominates the list of the UK’s highest-paid public figures, with 10 of the top 15 working for the rail body.
The appointment, which was originally advertised in April 2021, is coordinated by the DfT and the Cabinet Office. The specification for the role of chair is described as requiring a “world-class candidate” who could lead the board of a large organisation to grip major programmes. Candidates must also have excellent stakeholder-engagement skills.
According to the Cabinet Office appointment notes, experience in infrastructure, transport and construction would be preferred, but individuals from outside of the construction field would also be considered.
This article was posted on constructionnews.co.uk
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