Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has received reports of disciplinary action initiated against Special Branch officers communicating with organisations or individuals that blacklisted construction workers.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Investigations, including those into allegations of police wrongdoing and any decisions in relation to the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, are operational matters for police forces and are carried out independently of Government.
The Government is not routinely informed of the progress of ongoing investigations including any decisions related to disciplinary proceedings.
The Home Secretary and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner meet regularly to discuss a wide range of issues. As part of its terms of reference, the Undercover Policing Inquiry is investigating the state of awareness of undercover police operations of Her Majesty’s Government since 1968.
The Home Office is a core participant in that Inquiry and is in the process of making disclosure to the Inquiry of material relevant to the terms of reference. The Inquiry will report on its findings once all evidence has been reviewed.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she and her predecessors were briefed by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner on Special Branch officers communicating with organisations or individuals that blacklisted construction workers.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Investigations, including those into allegations of police wrongdoing and any decisions in relation to the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, are operational matters for police forces and are carried out independently of Government.
The Government is not routinely informed of the progress of ongoing investigations including any decisions related to disciplinary proceedings.
The Home Secretary and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner meet regularly to discuss a wide range of issues. As part of its terms of reference, the Undercover Policing Inquiry is investigating the state of awareness of undercover police operations of Her Majesty’s Government since 1968.
The Home Office is a core participant in that Inquiry and is in the process of making disclosure to the Inquiry of material relevant to the terms of reference. The Inquiry will report on its findings once all evidence has been reviewed.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish her Department's proposals on repealing or amending Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government intends to publish its intentions about the review of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 shortly.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on reducing the number of genetically modified animals bred for experiments but killed as surplus to requirements.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), the breeding of genetically altered (GA) animals is generally classed as a scientific procedure given that it must be assumed that the genetic alteration may cause suffering until proven otherwise. Given the significant contribution GA animals make to modern scientific progress, the breeding of such animals has increased significantly over the last 20 years. In 2014, 1.94 million GA animals were bred which accounted for around half of all scientific procedures on living animals.
The breeding of GA animals is complex in which significant numbers of animals need to be bred in order that those with the desired genetic alteration can be selected. The biological inevitability therefore is that surplus animals, for example those without the desired genetic alteration, will be bred and not further used. Nevertheless, under ASPA, the Home Office is committed to ensuring that no animals should be bred unnecessarily and therefore we are taking steps to ensure that GA breeding colonies are managed as efficiently as possible.
ASPA requires licensees to apply the principles of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) at all times, including in the context of the production and use of GA animals. The framework was created in consultation with GA breeding experts as well as animal welfare and animal protection groups. It provides background information, lines of enquiry and examples of acceptable findings, as well as the underlying performance standards and potential performance outcomes that establishments may wish to measure in order to benchmark their progress.
The framework is currently being rolled out in a number of establishments and we aim to publish it on our website over the coming months. This approach places the UK as a leader in managing the complex breeding and use of GA animals and we are aware of other countries which are keen to adopt our model once published.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Table 1 in her Department's publication, Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2014, HC 511, what aspects of the preservation of the species were the 22 experiments on cats were designed to assist.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The 22 cats used for the preservation of the species in the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2014 were involved in a project on the genetic status and health of Scottish wildcats. The Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia) was once found across the British mainland but is now confined to the Scottish Highlands. The key aims were to:
• Undertake a targeted survey of Scottish wildcats and domestic feral cats in key areas in Scotland
• Assess the genetic purity of Scottish wildcats and degree of interbreeding with domestic feral cats
• Assess the health of both the Scottish wildcat and domestic feral cat population
To do this, wildcats and feral domestic cats were humanely trapped and given a full health check under general anaesthesia which included the taking of a blood sample to assess the genetic purity of the wildcat as well as to look for evidence of infectious disease in both. All animals were then immediately released back into the wild.
The findings of this study are being used to establish much needed baseline information which will inform key conservation management decisions for the Scottish wildcat in order to protect the population. The influence of feral domestic cats, both through interbreeding with wildcats and transmission of infectious diseases that may contribute to wildcat population decline, is being used to inform feral cat management and control programmes in wildcat areas, and may lead to specific disease control measures such as targeted vaccination.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many inspectors appointed under section 18 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are currently in post; what the complement for such inspectors is; how many of the inspectors are former personal or project licence holders; and what the turnover of inspectors so appointed has been over the last three calendar years.
Answered by Karen Bradley
There are 19 inspectors currently in post appointed under Section 18 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This figure includes the position of Chief Inspector. The Home Office is in the process of recruiting three further inspectors to bring the headcount to a complement of 22.
The turnover of inspection staff over the last three years is as follows:
Year | Number of inspectors left post | Number of inspectors recruited |
2013 | 4 | 5 |
2014 | 4 | 6 |
2015 | 6 | 0 |
We do not hold information on whether inspectors are former project or personal licence holders. None of our inspectors currently hold either a personal or project licence.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has in place to assess at the conclusion of any animal experiment whether the severity level expected by researchers before the experiment corresponded to what the actual severity level was.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office has published detailed guidance (see: Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986), which describes the requirements the Home Office places on researchers in the assessment of retrospective severity. At the end of a series of regulated procedures the project licence holder is required to classify the actual severity of the series of procedures carried out using observations taken from the animals during day-to-day monitoring. This information has to be reported to the Home Office annually, and at the conclusion of a programme of work, and following implementation of 2010/63 EU was published for the first time in the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2014.
Where appropriate, Home Office Inspectors cross-check and assess these records against the severity categories set out in project licences.
All project licences using non-human primates, cats, dogs and equidae, all those involving procedures classified as severe as well as those for education and training purposes or using endangered animals, are also required to be assessed retrospectively. In such cases, the Secretary of State requires an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body to conduct the retrospective assessment, which has to be submitted to the Home Office within three months in order that an inspector can complete the assessment on behalf of the Secretary of State.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2014, HC 511, published on 22 October 2015, how many animals of each of the species in that paper were subjected to procedures in establishments in Wales; and what the (a) purpose and (b) level of security was of those procedures.
Answered by Mike Penning
The attached table contains separate tables for Scotland and Wales which show the number of procedures completed on each species in 2014 by (a) purpose and (b) severity.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2014, HC 511, published on 22 October 2015, how many animals of each of the species in that paper were subjected to procedures in establishments in Scotland; and what the (a) purpose and (b) level of security was of those procedures.
Answered by Mike Penning
The attached table contains separate tables for Scotland and Wales which show the number of procedures completed on each species in 2014 by (a) purpose and (b) severity.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has in place to ensure that researchers assessing the expected severity level of animal experiments when applying for project licences do so objectively and thoroughly.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office has published detailed guidance (see: Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986), which describes how severity categories are to be defined. Each protocol set out in a project licence application is assigned a severity category, which is assessed in by the applicant usually in collaboration with the establishment’s Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer, the Named Veterinary Surgeon and the Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body. It is then submitted to the Home Office for assessment by the Home Office Inspectorate who will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State. In addition, where special species or projects with major animal welfare or ethical implications or any applications raising novel or contentious issues, the application will be provided to the Animals in Science Committee (ASC) for advice to the Secretary of State. Under section 5 of the Act, the Secretary of State considers advice from Inspectors and from the ASC, and classifies the likely severity of each of the regulated procedures specified in the licence.