Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on body armour in the last five years.

The Dismounted Close Combat (DCC) team has spent approximately £37.9 million on body armour (hard armour plates, soft armour, and textile for body armour vests) for soldiers in the last five years (April 2019-March 2024). This figure is based on today’s unit costs; due to the way accounting records are held, it would only be possible to provide an exact figure at disproportionate cost. The DCC team does not procure body armour according to gender, but rather sources equipment to suit soldiers of all sizes.