Perish the thought that I might comment on the shelf life of HS2, but I do take what the noble Lord says very seriously. The fact is that some of the factors he mentions are taken into consideration. This issue is live. I accept his chiding. I will look carefully at his words and at what he has asked to be published or not published, but I hope that we may get a resolution of this matter, because I understand the demand, the request and the desire for a clear and public solution to the points put forward by the noble Lord. We will see what we can do, if not before the next group then certainly before we come back to this issue on Report.
5.15 pm
Returning to the main amendments in the group, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, made a very interesting intervention, which raised important issues. He asked about business cases, for example. There is nothing to prevent contracting authorities publishing their business cases and it could happen as a part of the tender document pack. We have said, as we have discussed, that we do not believe there is any express benefit to sharing information in every situation. Although the work would appear minimal, contracting authorities would have to seek to protect their own legitimate commercial interests and apply the transparency exemptions to the case, along with a public interest test. This is likely to involve input from the legal team and additional sign-off from senior staff. Once the burden of publication is balanced against the benefits of the transparency of the data, we submit there is no advantage to publication as a duty, given the other data that we are required to publish under the Bill. However, we will reflect on the points the noble Lord has made.
Amendment 445, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, with the support of the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, amends Clause 84. I agree, again, with what he said about the importance of pipelines and their availability. I understand their importance, particularly in relation to small businesses in the voluntary sector, social
enterprises and the various uses we have discussed in other groups. Certainly, this is something I have undertaken that we will reflect on, not only inside government but in engagement between now and the next stage. Pipelines are important and I brought in a request from the Northern Ireland Executive in terms of limiting pipelines, but that had to do with their particular desire to adjudicate. That is not, however, an indication that the Government are not interested: we think this is important. We view the amendment as unnecessary because we believe that contracting authorities may already go further—if they wish to—than the statutory minimum of £2 million the noble Lord referred to, as set out in this regime, and voluntarily publish procurement pipelines. Again, let us look at what he and others said. I listened carefully also to the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare.
Amendment 448, proposed by the noble Lords, Lord Wallace and Lord Fox, was the amendment on which Hikvision was mentioned. I am advised that in relation to the specific letter to the Cabinet Secretary, we cannot publish it at this stage but, repeating what I have said, we cannot comment on security arrangements on the government estate. As I said, these are matters under consideration.