Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department purchased combat arms earplugs from 3M.

Combat Arms Ear Plugs, specifically the 3M Combat Ear Plugs Generation 4.1, were purchased by the Ministry of Defence from 3M as part of the Tactical Hearing Protection – Basic User capability via a NATO Support and Procurement Agency contract.

A total of 152,850 units were purchased from 3M at an overall cost of £0.699 million between May 2015 and September 2023.