Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment the Government has made of the feasibility of replacing animal testing in the UK with Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs); and if this will be reflected in the upcoming strategy to phase out animal testing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member for Birmingham Northfield to the answer of 01.12.2025 to Question 92600.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential merit of redirecting existing funding and resources to support the transition to Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) to support the phasing out of animal testing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government’s publication “Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods” is supported by new funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology including £30 million to set up a translational hub and £30 million for the UK centre for the validation of alternative methods.
£11.4m has also been committed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Innovate UK’s core budgets and £4.5m from the Wellcome Trust to support strategy implementation to build a world-class UK research system by enhancing investment.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to prevent the importation of factory farmed octopus food products.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have no current plans to prevent the import of farmed octopus products to the UK.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to item 2.1 of the minutes of the 25 April 2025 meeting of the Advisory Panel on Consumer Prices (Stakeholder), what recent progress the Office for National Statistics has made on evaluating the potential impact of the use of groceries scanner data on the headline rates of (a) CPI, (b) CPIH and (c) RPI.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of the 1st December is attached.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on the determination of the future of Birmingham's PFI roads contract.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has taken careful note of the High Court ruling relating to the previous Government’s decision not to support the PFI arrangements for Birmingham City Council’s highway maintenance services.
The Department has subsequently conducted a consultation with the Council about the PFI contract and we have been carefully reviewing the Council’s detailed representations, with the Council’s support on clarification questions.
We are continuing to engage with the Council on the PFI with a view to confirming the decision on whether or not to support the continuation of the PFI contract as soon as possible.
I am committed to working together with Birmingham City Council to find a way forward which is in the best interests of the people of Birmingham and the taxpayer.