Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ban commercial breeding for use in animal testing; and if she will make a statement.

Scientific research using animals plays a vital part in our understanding of how biological systems work in health and disease. This brings benefits for human and animal healthcare, public safety, and the environment. The commercial breeding of animals for use in regulatory testing is primarily to support the safety of new medicines.

The Government is committed to the protection and welfare of animals and ensuring that animals are only ever used in science where there are no alternatives.

Government policy is to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that Replace, Reduce and Refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved through funding UK Research and Investment who fund the National Centre for the 3Rs and fund further research through Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council into the development of alternatives.