On 25th Feb, in a written answer to a question put by Angus Robertson, Mr Dunne stated;
the Mk10 ejection seat has been the subject of a mid-life upgrade programme, in the late 1990s, and an extensive modification programme from 2007 to 2010 that introduced many improvements. The Mk10 ejection seat in its current configuration is much improved as compared to 1996. As you are aware, further improvements are now being made as a result of the tragic accident to Flt Lt Sean Cunningham in November 2011.
This is a misleading statement and only applies to those Mk10 ejection seats fitted to Tornado aircraft. If all seats had been modified, which included the replacement of the scissor shackle with a gas shackle, then it is highly unlikely that Flt. Lt. Cunningham would have died. The "bolt" isssue is a red herring.
The real failure lies in MoD's inability to read across from one platform to another. I came across the same problem with hot air pipes in Nimrod. The same pipe "lagging" had caused a fire on a Tornado (ZA599, 17 May 02), but no one had told the Nimrod office; result 14 dead.
DV