WOKE HS2 bosses made staff do 50 days of inclusivity training when they could have been working on the line.
Employees faced a combined 344 hours’ worth in 2½ years on the high-speed train flop.
Staff working for HS2 had to spend 50 days doing inclusivity trainingUniversal News & Sport
Meanwhile, its four equality, diversity and inclusion officers were paid a total of £266,000 a year.
The quartet set up training on bias, “conscious inclusion” and avoiding harassment despite spending on the £60billion rail scheme rocketing out of control.
It comes after HS2 Limited, the public-owned firm responsible for delivering the line, circulated an inclusivity guide to builders.
Recently, it spent £10million on a contract to grow line-side grass and opened a £120,000 tender for office stationery.
Tory MP Nigel Mills said: “HS2 Limited is supposed to be a small organisation to oversee the awarding of contracts for the project, not a new empire.
“This idiotic waste has destroyed HS2. If it had been spent on building a train line and not on pointless training and procedures, the project would likely have been in a far stronger position.”
A spokesman for the line — the northern leg of which was axed last month — said its EDI staff “ensure all aspects of our work . . . is conducted in line with our legal responsibilities”.
PM Rishi Sunak ditched the HS2 extension beyond Birmingham amid fears costs could spiral to £150billion.
The original budget in 2009 was £37.5billion.
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