§ Sir Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list by country the manufacturing supply source of(a) boots and (b) berets used by United Kingdom armed forces; and if he will make a statement. [78574]
§ Dr. MoonieThere are currently 12 companies manufacturing boots (ranging from safety boots to combat boots and uniform dress boots) of which ten are United Kingdom based, one Spanish and the other Italian. Our existing stocks of berets were procured from two United Kingdom based companies. We are currently evaluating tenders from a number of UK and overseas-based companies for a new contract to supply berets for UK Armed Forces.