Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a British army centre for urban warfare, similar to the British army centre for jungle warfare, with dedicated SME's providing training.

The British Army has established an Urban Centre of Excellence (CoE), containing both military staff and a contracted pool of subject matter experts (SMEs), which achieved Initial Operating Capability in September 2022.

The Urban CoE delivers the following outputs:

• Validation of UK Land Tactical Doctrine for urban operations

• Urban operations input into the delivery of Professional Military Education

• Bespoke urban wargames as a vehicle for battlegroup and formation training

• Urban Collective Training design and delivery

• Support to the Experimentation and Trials Group in the delivery of urban experimentation

• A pool of SMEs to conduct engagement across the Army and provide advice where it is required