Recommendation 30

We were interested to understand why information about project performance does not always seem to flow freely and openly through the Department. The Permanent Secretary told us about the Ajax programme’s Health and Safety Report’s identification 57 C&AG’s report, para 3.3 58 Q116; C&AG’s report, para 3.17 59 Qq 149, 116 60 Q49 61 Qq 38–44; Letter to the Committee from the Permanent Secretary, 21 March 2022. 16 Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan 2021–31 of “a number of serious failings in which information around the project was flowing between constituent parts of the organisation and up to senior decision makers”.62 This failure appears to have even affected the open flow of information to Ministers, who have now called for a judicial inquiry into what officials told them. We noted that the Permanent Secretary is recusing himself from the terms of reference of the inquiry as he was involved in the decision to approve the contract for Ajax when he was in the Department some years ago.63