Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish all documents provided by the current Senior Reporting Office regarding Ajax’s safety.

The Senior Reporting Officer regularly provides updates to Defence Ministers on the programme. However, this Government, and the last Government, do not routinely release information provided from officials to ministers.

But I can assure the Hon Gentleman that Before declaring Initial Operating Capability, I received written assurances from CGS and the acting NAD that the vehicle was safe to operate. Within the letter note AJAX the vehicle was described as ‘demonstrably safe to operate”.

When concerns were raised in the summer, an independent Army investigation confirmed the vehicle was fit for purpose and operating well within Health and Safety Executive limits for noise and vibration.