Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had discussions with his Ukrainian counterparts regarding the fit of a) uniform and b) body armour for female soldiers in combat operations, and whether his Department has discussed lessons learnt from the Government of Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defence remains firmly committed to ensuring that all service personnel are equipped with appropriate and effective protective equipment. As part of this commitment, we are delivering an update to body armour for UK personnel through the Tactical Ballistic Plates project.

Procurement experts within the National Armaments Director group work closely with the Ministry of Defence's Op INTERFLEX Handling and Processing team, which collates feedback from Armed Forces of Ukraine personnel. This includes lessons from operational experience and female user feedback, which help to inform UK capability development.