Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November to Question 87759 on Ajax Vehicles: Testing, what protocols are in place in case noise levels exceed values outlined in the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005.

The trials are conducted under a safe system of work endorsed by the Ajax Safety Assurance Panel. This safety protocol includes the use of the live monitoring of crew noise and vibration exposure levels to ensure exposure remains within the appropriate legislative action value.

In my previous Answer of 18 November to Question 87760 I stated that Army crews are not required to undertake neurological tests as part of the trial protocol. It has now become clear that the enhanced audiometric surveillance used to assure the User Validation Trials’ safety protocol in fact meets the definition of neurological testing. The enhanced audiometric surveillance (hearing tests) are tests of which the House is already aware since the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 May 2022 (HCW42).