Call for Evidence

The Defence Committee has noted recent reports about the AJAX programme and will hold a one-off evidence session with General Dynamics and the Minister for Defence Procurement on Tuesday 20 July at 3.00pm. In advance of the session, the Committee is seeking short submissions on current progress with the AJAX programme and the concerns that have been raised. 

The Committee particularly welcomes evidence on the following points:

• What are cost implications for the programme?
• How will the current concerns impact on the delivery of the Army's force structure envisaged in the Defence White Paper?
• Whether the current concerns mean that the AJAX programme should be ended and alternative options sought?
• What has been the impact of the current concerns on General Dynamics, the connected supply chain and the workforce?

Form of written evidence: 

Submissions should be no longer than 2,000 words. The main body of any submission should use numbered paragraphs. Each submission should contain: 

• a short summary, perhaps in bullet point form;
• a brief introduction about the person or organisation submitting evidence, for example explaining their area of expertise or experience;
• any factual information from which the Committee might be able to draw conclusions, or which could be put to other witnesses;
• any recommendations for action by the Government or others which the submitter would like the Committee to consider for inclusion in its report to the House.

Submissions should be in malleable format such as MS Word (not PDFs) with no use of colour or logos. Guidance on submitting written evidence and data protection information is available here: Guidance on submitting written evidence. 

Deadline for submissions 

The Committee is asking for initial written evidence to be submitted through the Committee’s web portal by 1.00 pm on Tuesday 13 July 2021.

It is recommended that all submitters familiarise themselves with the Guidance on giving evidence to a Select Committee of the House of Commons which outlines particulars of word count, format, document size, and content restrictions. 

Diversity 

We encourage members of underrepresented groups to submit written evidence. We aim to have diverse panels of Select Committee witnesses and ask organisations to bear this in mind when we ask them to choose a representative. We are currently monitoring the diversity of our witnesses.