Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the potential merits of establishing an advisory independent committee, comprising of specialists in new approach methodologies, to review project license applications for animal testing prior to the granting of Home Office approval.

The Home Office Regulator will only grant licences to use animals in science where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit. Applicants seeking a licence are required to robustly evidence their consideration of alternative methods.

The Government is supporting and accelerating advances in biomedical science and technologies to reduce reliance on the use of animals in research. UK Research and Innovation provides core funding for the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), which works to drive the uptake of new methodologies, including alternatives to animals.

The Government has no plans to establish an independent committee to review project licence applications.